The Marauders: Year Three
by Craz4writing
Summary: There's a new Minister of Magic, a new head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and, of course, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. With all these changes, and the fact that the Raiders are becoming a more prominent part of their lives, the Hogwarts students are in for quite a year.
1. There's Nothing Like Family

**AN: Okay, I'm going to say the same thing I said at the beginning of year two. You don't have to read the previous years for this to make sense. You just have to know a few things. **

**1. I have yet to introduce the term, 'Death Eater.' They call all of that Death Eater attacks, 'Raids' and the people who carry them out, 'Raiders.' Voldemort is also unknown, as of now.**

**That's all I can think of for this chapter. I'll put important info from previous stories in the AN's for everyone. **

**Now that I've taken care of that... I am so excited about this story! I've been working on it for the last month, and I'm (finally) posting the first chapter. I hope you all like it. Now, read away!**

* * *

**Chapter One: There's Nothing Like Family**

"Mum," Petunia grumbled from the back seat of the Evan's family station wagon. "It's a Saturday morning. Why do I have to spend my _last_ Saturday before my _normal_ school starts in a car?" She made sure to cast a glare in Lily's direction here. "Yvonne invited me to her house so that we could enjoy what might just be the last sunny day of the year, but no-"

"Petunia," David Evans said from the driver's seat. It sounded like he was talking through clenched teeth. "We are taking your sister to the railway station. You can go to Yvonne's tomorrow."

"Or maybe you can go to Yvonne's later today." Rose Evans said with a smile. Credit had to be given to Rose Evans, she was exceedingly patient. "The trip shouldn't take too long."

Lily was pretty sure that if she continued to chew on her bottom lip like she had been doing since she got into the car ten minutes ago, she wasn't going to have a bottom lip by the time they arrived at Kings Cross. Lily hadn't been biting her lip this summer though, at least not when her parents were around. Petunia hadn't seemed to catch on to the fact that their parents didn't like it when she referred to her younger sister as a freak or said that she was abnormal.

Petunia huffed and took a nail file out of her handbag.

Lily's summer had been completely dismal. The only place she had gone to was Leyton to visit with her grandmother and, just like Easter earlier that year, Lily's grandmother had tried to convince Lily that she didn't need to go to a boarding school, she could go to school with Petunia so the girls could spend time together. Of course, Lily's grandmother didn't know that Lily attended a very special school for witches and wizards called Hogwarts. Lily had come very close to telling her during the two weeks they were visiting though.

She was supposed to go and visit her friend Savanna House, but Savanna's youngest sister had come down with Dragon pox a few days before she was due to arrive and Lily, not wanting to catch the disease herself, didn't end up visiting.

Her summer at home had been spent, for the most part, at the small playground that was not too far from her house. She and Severus Snape, who lived over at Spinner's End and also attended Hogwarts, had spent countless hours on the swings and taking walks around the small pond behind the park.

Another thing about her summer that was driving her mad was her lack of contact with the Wizarding world. Sev didn't receive the Daily Prophet, so Lily had gone almost all summer without any information about what was going on. Her friend, Mary McDonald had written to her a few times, but her family only had one owl and her dad, who was an auror, didn't like Mary using it very often in case he needed to send something important. And if Sev's friends had told him anything about what was happening, he hadn't told her.

"Can we listen to the radio?" Petunia asked, still filing away at her nails. Mrs. Evans complied and _Young Love _by _Donny Osmond _came on. Petunia started to sing along and Lily started grinding her teeth together in an attempt to stop a stream of insults from coming out of her mouth. Before this summer, Lily had still looked up to Petunia, still wanted to get along with her, but now, almost everything about her older sister annoyed her. She wasn't Lily's 'Tuney' anymore. She was Yvonne's 'Petty,' and Lily thought she was pathetic.

"Only two and a half hours left." Lily heard her dad mutter under his breath. She knew exactly how he felt.

oOoOo

Peter Pettigrew was already on the train at ten o'clock. His father had dropped him off at the station on his way to work. He barely had time to help Peter get his trunk on the train before he rushed off to Gringotts for some important task.

Peter was sitting with his back towards the window so he didn't have to watch all the families on the other side of the glass. He knew his father had to work, and that his job was very important, he had been told this ever since he could remember, but everyone else's dad had taken the morning off to see their kid off to school.

Peter's mother hadn't even come with them, his father hadn't allowed her to.

"He's not a baby, Bertha." William Pettigrew said, harshly. "He doesn't need his mother to come. I'm simply dropping him off and heading to work." He left the room after that and Peter's mum rushed over to Peter and threw her arms around him.

"I know you're not a little boy anymore, Peter." She said, patting his blond hair down. "But I'm going to miss you. I'm not going to see you again for months. But you'll have fun at school." She said. Peter wanted to tell her that he was going to miss her as well, and that he wanted her to come to the station, but his father walked back in.

His summer hadn't been all bad though. He had spent three weeks in France with some of his mother's family, a trip that his father had missed because he had to work. He had spent a week at James' house in August with his fellow Marauders so they could all attend a Quidditch game, and he had gone over to Remus's house for a few different weekends. Overall his summer had been alright, but he was glad to being going back to Hogwarts.

"Hullo, Peter!" Ian Bones said, sauntering into the compartment that Peter was sitting in, the last compartment, the one that the Marauders always sat in. Ian shared a dormitory with Peter and the other Gryffindor third year boys and he had been friends with Peter when he and the Marauders had had a falling out.

"Hullo, Ian." Peter said. Ian was taller than Peter now. By a lot, Peter had been afraid of that. When he had seen Sirius in August, he was a good three or four inches taller than James. Remus was taller than James now as well, and James was taller than Peter.

"Sitting here alone?" Ian asked.

"Just for now." Peter said, glancing out the window. "I expect the others will be along soon enough."

"Black and Potter do like to cut it close, don't they?"

"They'll make it." Peter said.

"Sure, sure." Ian said. "How was your summer?"

"Alright, I suppose." Peter said. "Yours?"

"Can't complain." Ian said. "I got see part of the Swedish broom race."

"Really?"

Ian nodded. "The course goes right over my aunt's house, she lives about twenty miles outside of Kopparberg and that's where the race starts."

"That's nice." Peter said politely, he honestly had no interest in the Swedish broom race.

"I got to go to the Wanderers' game in August too."

"I was at that game." Peter said.

"Too bad they lost, right?"

"I was actually cheering for the Tornados."

"Ian?" Another Gryffindor boy stuck his head into the compartment. "Ian, you've got to come see this. Benjy's got himself-" He looked over at Peter. "Well, just come and see."

"See you around, Peter." Ian said, following after the boy.

Peter sighed and leant back in his seat, waiting for his friends to join him.

oOoOo

"Are you ready?" John Lupin asked, walking into his son's bedroom. Remus was sitting on the edge of his bed reading a book and absentmindedly running a finger over a scar on his forearm that he had got earlier that week. He was still a bit tired from the night of the full moon, being at home made the healing process quite a bit longer.

"I finished packing last night." Remus said, marking his place in his book and standing up. He brushed his hair out of his face and stretched, every muscle in his body tried to shout in protest, but he knew that it would be worse if he let his muscles cramp up. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts so he could visit Madam Pomfrey. He had no doubt that she could fix him in about two minutes, simply because she had supplies at the school that the Lupins didn't have at their home.

"Well come down to breakfast then, your mum made pancakes, I made some bacon and we've got some toast and marmalade." He put his arm around his son's shoulders and led him through the hall and to the small kitchen.

"Morning, Remus." Caroline said, smiling widely at her only son. "Did you sleep well? Or were you too excited?" In actuality, Remus had been in too much pain to sleep well, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"I was rather excited." Remus said, which wasn't a complete lie. "Hogwarts is fantastic."

"I wish I could go back for a few days." Mr. Lupin said, sighing reminiscently. "It really is quite grand."

"Oh, quiet down you two." Mrs. Lupin said. "I'm sure it is marvelous, but some of us will never know."

"Sorry, dear." Mr. Lupin said, leaning over and kissing his wife on her forehead.

"I'm just teasing you. I did get to see it once, and it was beautiful." She said, kissing his cheek. Remus moved over to a cupboard, opened it and pulled out a plate. "They're over here, Remus." She said, motioning to a plate of pancakes, some a bit darker than they should be.

It was no secret that Caroline Lupin couldn't cook. She could burn almost anything and didn't have the patience for it. But every once in a while, on special occasions, she would make hotcakes and they weren't half bad, so both Remus and his dad pretended that they were the most wonderful thing they had ever eaten, simply because it pleased her.

"I fixed your robes, Remus." She said, bringing over a small plate of toast and bacon. "I can't believe how much you've grown since last year. If you grow much taller, I'm going to have to start looking up to talk to you."

"I'll be sure to bend down for you, mum." Remus said. Mrs. Lupin patted his head and laughed.

"I'm sure I'll appreciate that," She said. "But I'd like it even more if you just stopped growing." They all ate their breakfasts in silence for a while.

"It's almost ten-thirty." Mr. Lupin said, looking at the clock that was hanging up next to an old family portrait. "We should get going, Remus."

"Yes, we should." Mrs. Lupin said, also glancing up at the clock. And just for a brief moment, Remus saw her eyes linger on the family portrait. It was a muggle photo and it was taken before Remus's accident. "We don't want you to miss the train."

"I'll just go and get my trunk."

"I'll do it." Mr. Lupin said, standing up quickly. They never really spoke about Remus's affliction, but it was always acknowledged.

"If you could grab my book as well…" Remus said.

"Yes, of course."

A few moments later, the Lupins gathered in the living room and were ready to apperate to Kings Cross station.

oOoOo

Mary McDonald was angry. She was furious. She was unfathomably livid. And it was all her father's fault. Well, to be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault, but she was blaming him. She was standing on the edge of the platform with her mum and two step-siblings. Kelly wasn't completely horrible but Mary thought she was, and Tyler _was _a complete terror. And thanks to Mary's father, she had had to spend the last week of her holiday with her mum and step-family. And it was all because he had to go on some stupid Auror mission and couldn't get off for just one day to take Mary to the station.

"Mary, stop pouting." Her mum said, grabbing hold of Tyler's arm as he tried to make a run for it, again. Mary rolled her eyes, at Tyler and her mum.

"You dropped me off," Mary said. "You can go now. Go back to your nice fancy house and your nanny."

"Mary," Her mother said, taking a deep breath. "Why do you have to act like this?"

"Why did you have to bring them?" Mary said, motioning to Tyler and Kelly. Kelly stuck her tongue out at her and Tyler reached over and pinched her. Her mum pretended she hadn't noticed.

"They are your brother and sister." Her mum said, sharply. "They came to see you off to school, the same as me."

"They aren't my brother and sister." Mary muttered.

"I don't want to be her brother." Tyler said. "And I didn't want to come."

"Hush, Tyler."

"You don't have to be Mary's brother," Said someone from behind Mary's shoulder. "That's my job!"

"Ben!" Mary said, turning around and jumping into her older brother's arms.

"Hello, little brat."

"I'm not a brat." She said.

"Mrs. Selwyn." Ben said, nodding at Mary's mother.

"Ben." She said, nodding back. Mary and Ben's father had been married four times in the last twenty years. His first marriage, to Ben's mother, had lasted the longest, and his second marriage, to Mary's mother, had been the shortest. Both Ben and Mary lived with their dad most of the time. Ben visited with his mother occasionally and Mary visited her mother when she was forced to.

"I thought you said you weren't going to make it." Mary accused.

"You're getting far too old to fall for my lies." Ben said. "Why would I miss seeing you off?"

"You said you had to work."

"And that would be a good excuse if I hadn't been lying."

"You're going to get into trouble." Mary said. "You're supposed to be at work right now, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Ben said. "But I just wanted to say goodbye." He hugged her again and whispered into her ear. "And make sure you got onto the train with a smile on your face." She laughed and pushed him away.

"Thank you."

oOoOo

Regulus had had his friends over that summer. Friends from Slytherin. Friends that Walenburga and Orion Black approved of. And Sirius had spent the last few weeks of his summer locked in his room, avoiding the lot of them. When Evan Rosier and Marcus Yaxley had first come over, Sirius could tell that his little brother had been uncomfortable. Evan and Regulus hadn't got along very well last year, but after a few days, they were thick as thieves.

And now, the Rosiers and the Yaxleys were with the Blacks on the platform.

"Isn't it just wonderful that our boys are friends?" Mrs. Rosier asked, smiling fondly at her son. "It's so hard to find proper friends for your children these days."

"We should have got them together earlier." Mrs. Black droned. "It's important for young children to have proper influences. Their minds are so impressionable."

Sirius rolled his eyes and grabbed his trolley. "I'm going to get on the train now."

"Yes, alright." His mother said. "I'll see you for Christmas." She said, patting his shoulder. Sirius knew she only did that because people were watching.

"Cheers." He said, walking away quickly.

He picked up his owl and levitated his trunk out in front of him, stepping into the train and navigating his trunk into the last compartment.

"Oof!" Sirius walked into the compartment and saw Peter on the floor.

"You alright, mate?" Sirius asked, setting his owl down and helping Peter to his feet.

"I'm fine." Peter said. "Your trunk knock me over." Peter smiled at Sirius, expecting him to make some sort of joke about how clumsy Peter was or something, but it never came.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think anyone would be in here yet."

"My dad dropped me off at ten." Peter said.

"That's early." Sirius said. "Why?"

"He had to work." Peter said.

"Oh." Sirius put his trunk and his owl up in the luggage rack and then fell back onto a seat. "You're lucky you don't have a brother, Pete."

"What'd he do?" Peter asked.

"He got himself some git friends."

"Who?"

"Rosier and Yaxley." Sirius scowled. "My mum's so bloody proud."

"Sorry." Peter said, Sirius shrugged.

"How was the last bit of your summer?"

"Alright. I went over to Remus's last weekend." Peter said. "

"Lucky, sod."

"Why didn't you come?"

"I couldn't." Sirius said. "Mum and dad didn't want me leaving the house."

"Sirius, Peter." A third boy said, entering the compartment with his trunk.

"Hullo, Remus." Peter said.

"Remus." Sirius greeted.

"Have you seen James yet?" Remus asked.

"Nah, not yet." Sirius said. "He'll get on the train right after the whistle blows like always."

"Probably." Remus said. He took the seat next to Peter and looked at Sirius. "Did you hear anything?"

"'bout what?"

"Carlee."

"Last letter I got was at the beginning of the month and she said, 'I don't know.'" He sighed.

"Same with me." Remus said. "I suppose we'll see."

"Suppose we will." Sirius said.

oOoOo

"Gisele!" Savanna shouted, running through the brick wall after her eleven year old sister. "I told you to wait for me!"

"Sorry." Gisele said, looking down at her shoes. "I'm just excited."

"I know, but wait a moment longer, yes?" Savanna turned around, facing the magical entrance and waited for her mother and sisters to materialize on the platform. She didn't have to wait long.

"I will never get used to that." Her mum said, shaking her head. "I just ran _through_ a brick wall."

"It's magic, mummy!" Hazel said, tugging on her mother's arm.

"I know its magic, sweetheart. Well, we didn't miss the train." She said, looking up at the large scarlet steam engine. "That's lucky."

"It's not my fault." Violet grumbled, the fifth member of the House family to walk through the wall. "I didn't mean to spill my orange juice."

"No one said it was your fault, Violet." Her mum said, patting her shoulder. "I was just afraid we were going to be late."

"It was Vi's fault." Gisele whispered to Savanna.

"Shh." Savanna said, shaking her head. Savanna House was the oldest of four girls and at age thirteen, she was far more mature than most girls her age. Her dad had left when she was eight and her mother was a muggle who was left with four witches and not a clue about magic, so that left a lot of responsibility on Savanna's shoulders. She had to look after her younger sisters and make sure they weren't causing too much trouble with their underage magic.

Gisele was eleven, and starting her first year of Hogwarts. Violet was the second youngest at age nine and then there was Hazel, the baby of the family by only a year. She was eight years old, but acted more like she was five or six. Always hanging onto her mother and having other people do things for her.

And all summer Savanna had had to put up with their moaning and fighting and yelling but not anymore, today was her first day of her third year at Hogwarts and she couldn't be more excited to get back to the world she had left behind in June.

"Gisele and I should get on the train." Savanna said, absentmindedly zipping up Hazel's jumper. "If we want to get a compartment that is." She pulled her youngest sister into a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Hazel." She said. "You'll be sure to write to me, yes?"

"I'll draw you pictures." Hazel said after a moment of deliberation. "I'm not very good at writing."

"Well, it'll be good practice than." She turned to Violet. "Come here." She said grabbing her arm and hugging her. She thought about telling her to behave herself will she was at school, but didn't want to start a fight before she left. "You better write to me as well."

"I will." Violet said.

"Mum," Savanna said, turning to the last person she needed to say goodbye too. "I'll bring Gisele back in December for Christmas." She said.

"Don't worry about your sister too much. And don't worry about us," Her mum said, kissing her cheek. "We'll be fine. Good luck with school and be sure to write, you know we don't have an owl. The only way I can talk to you is if you send _me_ a letter first."

"I always write to you." Savanna said. "But we really should get on the train." She glanced over at the large clock that was hanging in the middle of the platform. It was ten to eleven.

"Yes, alright." Her mother said. "Good luck! See you at Christmas."

oOoOo

James' morning had been oddly calm. On the last two first days of school, the Potter house had been a bit hectic. James had been scrambling to find all his school things and his shoes, for some reason his school shoes always got misplaced during the summer, but not this year.

This year it wasn't James' first year of school. Nor was Sirius Black, one of James' best mates, going to the station with the Potters. No, this year James had spent the entire last week of his summer holiday alone. The only thing he had to do was pack for school, which he had done very slowly as to prolong the process.

His father was a healer at the wizard hospital, St. Mungo's and he was also on the hospital's board that dealt with the Ministry. Lately the sub-department of the Ministry that had influence over the hospital's rules and regulations, had been trying to make it illegal for healers to treat muggles within St. Mungo's or for muggles to even enter the hospital. This outraged Charles Potter who was a firm believer that having magical capabilities did not make an individual any better than someone without magic.

Anyway, that had left James' dad very busy for the last few weeks.

His mother was busy as well, as she was vying to be head of the D.M.L.E., or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. James knew that she really wanted this job, and he wanted her to have it as well. He was not the only one who thought that Liza Potter would make a much better department head than George Fawley.

However, both his mother and his father had taken the morning off to take him to platform 9 and ¾.

"I'm so sorry, James." His mother said, once again. It seemed to be all she had to say to him lately. "I've spent hardly any time at all with you this summer."

"That's not true." James said, even though he knew it was. "We spent time together. Besides, you were busy."

"But you're my son!" She said. "I shouldn't be too busy for you."

"Stop being so hard on yourself, Liza." Mr. Potter said.

"Listen to dad, mum." James said.

"Oh, you two." Mrs. Potter said. "You're making me feel like a ninny."

The warning whistle blew, and all the students still on the platform started rushing around, saying last minute goodbyes and hoping on the train.

"Let's get your trunk on board, James." Mr. Potter said, flicking his wand. James trunk levitated off the trolley and towards the train. "The last compartment?" He asked.

"Yes." James said. He turned to his mother. "I'll see you at Christmas." He said, picking up his owl cage. "And, I'll write. I promise." He took a step towards the train.

"If you think you're getting on the train without hugging me, you'd better think again." She said, with her hands on her hips. He sighed and put the cage down. She pulled him into her arms and kissed the top of his head.

"Mum!"

"Oh hush." She said. "I'm going to miss you, James."

"I'll miss you too." He said, stepping away from her, picking up the cage and following his father towards the train. "I'll see you later, Dad." He said, giving his father a one armed hug.

"Goodbye, James. Make sure to write to your mum."

"I know, I know." James said.

"Have fun."

"You know I will."

oOoOo

The train had already started moving, and most of the students were in compartments, there were only a few who we still in the narrow corridor. Carlee Baker was one of them.

She stood at the front of the train, her trunk and owl cage behind her, and looked down the line of compartments, slowly clenching and unclenching her fists and trying to work up the courage to move.

Her older brother Dylan had offered to let her sit in a compartment with him, but she hadn't wanted to impose; besides the sooner she got this over with the better. She didn't know why she was so nervous. They were her friends. She was just going to see her friends. She had nothing to be nervous about. They weren't going to ask her questions that made her feel uncomfortable or make her feel guilty for not coming back to school last year. They were going to be happy she was back. Dylan had tried to convince her of this but she remained skeptical. People were curious, of course they were going to ask questions, and normally that would be fine, except she had no idea how to answer them.

She took a deep breath and walked towards the first compartment door, peeking in the window but making sure to keep her face out of view from those inside.

Sure enough, a large majority of the Gryffindor third year girls were inside along with a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws whose names Carlee had forgotten. She went through the nine girls who she had shared a dormitory with first year, making sure that she remembered their names and prolonging the moment that she would have to enter the compartment.

Taking a deep breath, she slid open the door. The noise from inside quickly died down as all heads turned to see who the new arrival was. Carlee looked down at her feet, feeling uncharacteristically shy and embarrassed, especially when she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Carlee?" A familiar voice said. She looked up and saw Lily walking towards her with a large smile on her face. She dropped her trunk just as the redhead wrapped her arms around her. Carlee returned the hug, somewhat awkwardly as Lily had pinned Carlee's arms down at her side.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?" Savanna asked, getting up to hug her. Mary joined as well. The four girls stood in the doorway for a few minutes before Carlee started to feel more uncomfortable than she had when she walked in.

"Okay," Carlee said, trying to wiggle free. "Enough of that." She said, taking out her wand and levitating her trunk and owl cage to the luggage rack. "We don't need to get all emotional."

"We've really missed you." Lily said. "But you didn't answer Savanna's question."

"Hmm?" Carlee looked over at Savanna.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?" She asked again, sitting back down next to some girl with a Hufflepuff tie on.

"I didn't know I was for sure until Wednesday. And it takes an owl more than three days to fly from my house to any of yours."

"Fair enough." Savanna said.

"What changed your mind?" Lily asked.

"My brother. He wasn't as understanding this time around."

"Good." Lily said. "Do you remember everyone? Or do you want me to reintroduce you?"

"That would be wonderful." Carlee said, smiling gratefully at her. She looked around at all the people in the room and couldn't help but feel a bit silly for being so nervous, but that feeling silly didn't make her any less nervous. "I'm really glad I'm back."

"We're all glad you're back too." Mary said, putting her arm round Carlee's shoulder.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, I hope you leave a review for me because I am particularly fond of reviews. I like feedback and I would like you to tell me if there are any mistakes, it's easier to fix them now then later when I have more chapters to scour through. **

**The next chapter will be up soon, but until then, stay wonderful! **


	2. Problems in the Ministry

**AN: Thanks to the lovely reviewers. And to answer your question xXSectumsempraXx, I have seen the trailer for the winter special and I am terribly excited. :D**

**Now, chapter two things you should know:**

**1) Ella was Carlee's twin sister. She died last year along with Carlee's father and one of her brothers. **

**And that's it. I don't know what the point of making a list is if I only have one thing on the list. So, with that, enjoy this chapter.**

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**Chapter Two: Problems in the Ministry **

"My mum's been in the Ministry all summer." James said, leaning forward trying to prove his point to Stephen Jones. "I think I would know what's going on there." He was holding the Daily Prophet in his hand, large angry letters were flashing across the front page and there was a picture of Minister Henderson shaking his fist. It wasn't the first article that looked like this.

"Your mum doesn't tell you everything, Potter." Stephen said icily. Frank shook his head. None of the boys had liked putting up with Stephens's attitude much since first year. He was just an unpleasant person. "Besides, she's not head of the department yet. _She _doesn't know everything."

"Nah," Sirius said, from his corner of the compartment where he had previously been successfully ignoring the other boy's conversation by playing chess with Remus. "She's just head of the M.L.E.S, which means absolutely nothing."

"She doesn't have nearly as much power as Fawley does."

"Not yet." Frank said. "But she's going to have Fawley's job by the end of the year."

"I don't think so. Henderson likes Fawley, and from what _my _dad told me, your mum is not a favorite of the minister." James scoffed.

"My mum is there to catch raiders, not get in the Minister's good graces."

"Besides, she's got Moody's backing." Frank said. "And people like Moody."

"They like Henderson too," Stephen said. "He was just elected."

"But who knows who would have got the job if Turnbull hadn't been assassinated." Sirius said. "He's not as popular as he thinks he is. He's not doing enough to get rid of the raiders to please one half of the people and he's doing too much to get rid of the Raiders to please the other half. He's got no real supporters. He won because he was the only option."

"That's not true." Stephen said, taking the newspaper out of James' hands and rereading the article on the front page.

James was going to say he agreed with Sirius, but he didn't think it was worth fighting with Stephen to say so. The article that had sparked the conversation was about the department of magical law enforcement, as so many articles that summer had been.

Nothing much had happened over the summer with the raiders, there hadn't been any attacks on witches or wizards since before the term ended last year. There had been one muggle raid in early July, where three muggles had been killed, but the Prophet said that they couldn't confirm that it had been a raider attack. Nobody doubted that it was, but it hadn't been confirmed and therefore hadn't been counted as an attack.

There had however, been a lot of politics. Henderson was trying to completely transform the department of magical law enforcement for better or worse. His speeches put the Aurors in a bad light but left some of the wizarding population feeling very good about their new Minister. Alastor Moody, head of the Auror department, was doing his best to undo the damage Henderson was doing to his department though, and this was causing some friction.

James pulled a different copy of the Prophet out and took another look at the front page story. This morning's edition of the Daily Prophet had run a story on how uncooperative the Aurors were being.

**Henderson Threatens Head Auror Alastor** **Moody's Job **

**By: Glenolden Thornton**

**Since taking office in February, Minister Xavier Henderson has been furiously pushing his law enforcement reform acts through the Ministry, trying to make catching Raiders easier for Aurors and Hit wizards, but not all people in the ministry are backing Henderson. Alaster Moody, head of the Auror department and someone you would want to back any kind of law enforcement reform, is actually hindering the Minister's efforts to get his legislation passed. He says, "It's not going to help. This is going to make it harder for us to do our jobs the way** **they should be done. I'm not just going to sit back and watch him destroy our system." Now he is paying the price for speaking out, late last night Henderson was overheard threatening Moody's job if he continued to make things difficult for the Minister. **

"**I don't mind much," Moody said when asked about the threat. Moody has been head of the Auror department for nine years, and was an Auror for eleven years before that. "It's an empty threat, he knows he needs me. I'm good at what I do and I'm going to continue to do it."**

**The legislation that has been passed so far requires at least three Aurors to be on the scene before they can attempt to catch any raiders, or identify themselves as Aurors. Henderson says that this will actually save Aurors lives, even if the Aurors themselves aren't so sure of it.**

"**We've lost too many people to these Raiders, and that's because they are all trying to play hero." Henderson said. "We don't need heroes, we need to keep our numbers up and find an effective way to capture the Raiders."**

**Story continues on page 3. **

James folded the paper up and placed it on the edge of his seat. It bothered him that the Minister was trying to force Moody to go along with him but, for now, Moody was right. His job was safe because he had the public backing him. He was good at his job and no one would be happy with Henderson if he were to fire Moody.

"Check mate." Remus said.

"Bloody hell." Sirius muttered, watching as Remus's queen stabbed his king, shattering it into little pieces. "That's three times in a row, Remus. I'm finished." Remus shrugged.

"Do you want to play, James?"

"Sure, why not?" James said, changing places with Sirius.

"I'm going to go meet Ian and Carl." Stephen said, standing up, tossing his newspaper onto the seat and leaving the compartment.

"I'm going to stay here for now, if you don't mind." Frank said.

"Not at all." Peter said. "Stephen is a lot to handle."

"Stay as long as you like." Remus said.

James and Remus were setting up their chess pieces when there was a knock on the compartment door.

"It's open." James called out.

"I know. I didn't know whether I should knock or not." A girl said, after sliding the door open. "I felt silly knocking, but…" She trailed off. The five boys in the compartment all stared at her, lost for words. She shifted around uncomfortably and avoided looking any of them in the eye.

"Carlee?" Frank asked, being the first of the boys to recover. The Marauders just sat there in stunned silence. "You're back!" Frank said, smiling at her.

"I am." She said, looking nervously around at the four other boys.

"For good?" James asked, shaking his head and standing up. "I mean, you really are staying?"

"Yes." She said, nervously. "I'm here to stay."

Sirius had yet to say anything. He was just staring at her; this small, blonde girl who he had been rather close to first year, this girl who he had written to for the past year because she hadn't come back to school, this girl who had lost half of her family the summer before.

But he wasn't thinking of any of those things as he looked at her just then.

He was thinking that she looked different.

Not the kind of different that most teenage boys take notice to. She wasn't exceptionally beautiful all of a sudden or anything. She still looked like the Carlee he had known two years ago, sure, she looked a bit older, but not much.

But there was something different about her that he couldn't put his finger on. Her hair was longer, she was slightly taller (though shorter than him,) her skin looked darker, her face a bit longer, but he didn't think it was any of those things.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming back?" Remus asked, sliding over against the wall, giving her a place to sit down.

She shrugged, looking down at the ground. "I didn't want to come back." She stepped inside and took the seat next to Remus.

"Why?" James asked. "Didn't you miss us?"

"Of course I did! I missed everyone!"

"I was only joking." James said laughing. "How could you not miss us?"

"I just didn't want to leave Chris… and it's hard coming back. It's like- I mean- everyone is looking at me like I'm missing and arm or something." She jutted her jaw out. "I feel like I'm missing an arm."

And that's when Sirius realized what was different about her. She looked vulnerable. She looked insecure and out of place sitting across from the completely at ease James Potter. She looked gloomy and as if she was in pain. And Sirius didn't like it.

"So what were you doing all last year?" James said, not noticing Sirius's discomfort. "You didn't come to school, how are you able to start now as a third year?"

"I had to take the second year exams." Carlee said. "So I had to read all the second year books and learn everything on my own. Well, my sister Bridget helped me quite a bit actually."

"Oh, so you were just taught at home for a year?" Peter asked.

"Yeah." Carlee said, looking nervously over at Sirius, who still hadn't said anything.

He suddenly felt very uncomfortable as he noticed that all eyes were now on him. They were all waiting for him to say something. Carlee had been a good friend of his, he should have something to say after a year of not seeing her.

"I have to go to the loo." He heard himself say when he opened his mouth. He didn't know why he had said that, but he didn't wait for the others to contest it. He stood up and left the compartment as quickly as he could.

The five others in the compartment watched in confusion as he raced out.

"What's wrong with him?" James asked, after the door slid shut behind Sirius. "He wanted you to come back. We all did."

"I think he's shocked." Remus said. "He wasn't expecting to see her."

"He didn't have to act like that though." James said.

"I know, but its Sirius. He's a bit dramatic sometimes."

"Please stop." Carlee said, standing up. "He doesn't have to talk to me."

"He's not angry with you." Peter said. Carlee looked at him. They hadn't been really close during their first year so they hadn't been sending letters to each other. She didn't really know him anymore, same as with Frank and most of her roommates. She had seen them every day, but she hadn't talked to them. "He's just- well he'll be right back."

James gave Peter a look, but Peter shook his head so he didn't press the matter.

A few minutes later, Sirius did come back.

"Sorry about that." Sirius said, sitting down across from Carlee. "It's really nice to see you again."

"Thanks. It's good to see you too." She said.

oOoOo

Lily had offered to go with Carlee to see the Marauders. She didn't particularly like any of the Marauders but Carlee had seemed really nervous about going to see them and she had wanted to help her. But she had insisted that she was fine and that she could do it on her own.

"She's different." Savanna said quietly, leaning closer to Lily so the rest of the girls wouldn't overhear them. Mary leant in as well.

"Very different." Mary agreed.

"What did you expect?" Lily asked. "We all know better than most what happened to her family." At the beginning of last year, McGonagall had taken the girls up to the headmaster's office so he could further explain why their friend Ella was dead and why Carlee wasn't coming back to school.

"She's Carlee." Mary shrugged. "I wasn't expecting her to wear her emotions on her sleeve like that." Lily bit her lip.

"She looks-" Savanna looked down at her hands. "She looks more like Ella. I mean, I know they were identical twins, but they held themselves differently. Carlee always seemed confident where Ella was shy and quiet."

"She doesn't know how to act round us yet." Lily said. "Let her find her footing."

"I know." Savanna said. "I was just saying."

"I know, but Carlee wouldn't like us talking about her when she's not round."

"You're right." Savanna said.

"Let's talk about our summers." Mary said, cheerfully changing the subject. "Mine was dreadfully dull. Your turn Lily."

Lily laughed and shook her head. "Mine was dull as well."

"At least you two didn't have to spend your summer babysitting." Savanna said. "Violet and Hazel both got dragon pox, and St. Mungo's is trying to enforce some law that says muggles can't come into the hospital, so I had to go in with them while my mum was forced to wait in some room near the front desk."

"They wouldn't let your mum go with your sisters?" Lily asked, Mary looked completely shocked.

"No." Savanna said. "They told her that they would take good care of them and she had nothing to worry about, but she wasn't allowed to come in any further than ground level." Savanna shook her head. "They were going to kick her out of the hospital completely but some healer came over and assured us that she could stay in the waiting room with the other patients' family members."

"What?" Mary asked. "They can't tell muggles they're not allowed in St. Mungo's. What if there was some magical catastrophe or something? Muggles get treated in St. Mungo's all the time, especially now with all the raids going on. Where are they going to go if not St. Mungo's? They can't go to a _muggle_ hospital if they've suddenly sprouted a tale, can they?"

"I don't know, Mary." Savanna said. "All I know is that it was really unkind for them to not let my mum in with my sisters. She was really scared about them. They wouldn't tell her what was going on, or even what dragon pox was. And I couldn't answer most of her questions, I felt helpless. It was as if we weren't important enough for the healers to tell us what was going on."

"Okay, what healer came over and told you your mum could stay?" Mary said.

"I don't know how your mind works." Lily laughed. "You get stuck on odd points."

"I don't know the healer, he wasn't dealing with my sisters so I didn't see him after that."

"I can't believe no one told me about this." Mary said. "And who's trying to get that law passed?"

"Some sub-department in the ministry." Bianca Deutch said. She too was a ministry employee's kid. "The Mungo's administration is nearly evenly divided currently. Sorry I was eavesdropping."

"That's okay." Mary said. "Why, are there any people who agree with it?"

"I asked my mum that, but she just shared a look with my dad and told me that she'd tell me when I'm older." Bianca said, rolling her eyes. "I hate it when she says that, it usually means something pretty awful."

"This is frustrating." Mary said.

"Speaking of frustrating, did you read the Daily Prophet this morning?" Bianca asked.

"No, I was at my mother's house this morning. Why?"

"Henderson threatened to fire Moody if he didn't start backing his department's reform legislation." Mary laughed.

"That'll happen when dragons start breathing sugar quills." She said. "All the Aurors love Moody, if he gets fired they would do something about it."

"Moody said as much." Bianca said. "But still."

"Yes, I know."

"Hold on, say that again." Lily said. She had been in the muggle world all summer and, just as she had thought, quite a bit seemed to have happened during the summer. "Moody might get fired?"

"No." Bianca said. "He's not going to get fired, the Minister is just upset because he's not supporting all the reforms."

"I'm going to get an owl soon." Savanna said. "Then I can get the Daily Prophet during the summer. I don't like coming back and not knowing anything."

"Me neither." Lily said. "What's happened this summer? With the ministry, I mean."

Bianca looked a Mary and shrugged. "The Daily Prophet hasn't been reporting much except Henderson's legislation that's getting passed."

"What is it though?" Savanna asked. "What's getting passed?"

"Reforms." Mary shrugged. "They never go into too much detail. I mean, mostly they're just reporting that Henderson's doing something. And since the Aurors haven't been able to catch any Raiders, people like that."

"He's blaming the Aurors for not doing their job." Bianca said. "The reforms are, from what my mum says, just adding a bunch of paper work and making it harder to arrest someone."

"How many of your parents are Aurors?" Savanna asked, the girls. "Mary, Bianca. Your parents are Aurors too, Felicity?"

"The McKinnons have been Aurors since the job was created." Felicity said. She was a third year Ravenclaw who had joined them in the compartment.

"That's true." Mary laughed.

"So you all know things?" Lily asked. "Things that the Prophet doesn't report?"

"Not really." Mary said. "It's not like our parents come home and tell us the department's secrets."

"They tell Marlene." Felicity sighed.

"She's in Auror training, isn't she?"

"Yes, but she won't tell me anything more than what my parents tell me."

"You seem like you know more." Savanna said.

"We know firsthand how they're reacting to the Minister and all the stuff he's trying to do," Bianca said. "But that's about it."

There was a bang outside their compartment and then their door flew open.

"I want to be a third year." Lily looked towards the door and saw Alice Fortescue standing there, her hands clenched into fists and her face red. Her curly brown hair was all over the place and, what was probably the most striking, she had green goo sliding down the front of her muggle clothes.

"What happened?" Mary giggled.

"Shut up, MacDonald." Alice said, slamming the sliding door behind her and taking a seat across from Lily. "I hate the girls in my year."

"What did they do?" Lily asked.

"Clair Pitchfield." Alice said, ignoring Lily's question. "I can't abide her."

"Yes, alright." Savanna said, placing a hand on Alice's knee, one of the few places not covered in green slime. "But what happened? Why are you covered in goo?"

Alice glared at her. "She said that I couldn't participate in her conversation because I'm a Pure-blood. She said that I couldn't possibly understand what she's going through and that I should just keep my opinions to myself." Alice took a deep breath. "So, I told her that she was as good as a Pure-blood because her father is Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic and she hasn't been specifically targeted at all, nor have any of her friends or family. Then she called me ignorant and said that I thought I was better than her because of my blood status." She shook her head and closed her eyes. "And then it escalated pretty quickly from there." She said motioning to the slime. "She's not even a Muggle-born!"

"Why would she say something like that?" Lily asked. "You're one of the nicest people I know."

"Thanks." Alice said dryly. "But she's Clair Pitchfield. She does whatever she wants."

"Yes well, I'm Mary McDonald." Mary said, standing up and pushing up her sleeves. "And I don't let people treat my friends like that."

"Mary," Lily said, trying to pull her back onto the seat. "You're not going to go over there and… attack her or anything."

"I'm not going to attack her." Mary said. "I'm just going to talk to her."

"You don't have to do that." Alice said. "I'll deal with her myself."

"Are you sure?" Mary asked.

"I'm sure." Alice said. Mary sat back down. "It just upset me."

"Well, you are covered in goo." Savanna said, with a small smile.

"Not even the goo," Alice sighed. "Just what she said. Do people really think that I think like that, just because I'm a Pure-blood?"

"We don't." Lily said quickly. "I know you don't think like that."

"Yeah." Mary said. "You think you're better than people like Clair, because you _are_ better than people like Clair." Alice laughed.

"Thanks." She said. "I think I should change out of these clothes now. This green stuff doesn't smell very nice."

oOoOo

"Okay, what was that?" James asked a few minutes after Carlee left the compartment to go back to the front of the train. "Why did you run out of here when she first came in?"

"I don't know." Sirius said. "Just drop it."

"She's not Carlee anymore." Peter said. Remus nodded.

"She can't hide behind letters when she's sitting right in front of us."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"She can't pretend that everything is okay as well as she could when we were only talking to her through letters."

"I don't want to say the wrong thing around her." Sirius said. "I don't want to accidentally say something that upsets her, or makes her think about her family."

"She's already thinking about them." Peter said.

"And I don't think she would appreciate it if you walked around her on egg shells." Remus said. "You should treat her normally. I think she would like that more."

"But you don't know!" Sirius said. "It looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. How are we supposed to treat her normally when she looks like that?"

"How do we know she wants us to treat her normally?" James asked.

"Look," Remus said, wringing out his hands. "I don't know what it's like to lose someone close to me, but I do know what it's like to have your whole world get turned upside down. And it's really comforting to have something normal in your life afterward. My parents still treat me as if I'm always in pain, they look at me and they look sad and it's awful. I just think that Carlee would like it if we didn't treat her differently."

Peter nodded. "Everyone else is going to treat her different. We shouldn't."

"You weren't even friends with her." Sirius said. "Not really."

"I know." Peter said.

"It was a bit awkward." Frank said. "I wasn't really friends with her either. I feel like I should have left or something."

"Nah that would have been odd." James said. "And if our goal is to act normal…"

"That is our goal." Peter said. "Remus is right. Having someone who doesn't treat you differently is nice. If we don't treat her normally, she's going to look for someone who does." No one asked him how he knew this.

"Okay," Sirius said. "We'll treat her normally. Let's talk about something else now."

"Like what?" James asked. "How half of the Gryffindor Quidditch team graduated last year and we need a beater, a chaser_ and_ a keeper? Let's talk about that shall we?" Sirius and Remus groaned.

"Nah," Peter said. "You can talk to your remaining teammates about that."

"I don't even know who got captain yet!" James said. "Do you know how frustrating that is?"

"It's either Seth or Rodger." Frank said. "Wouldn't you be happy with either?"

"Yes, but I still want to know."

"I want to know who the heads are this year." Sirius said. "So we can start planning their congratulatory prank."

"You're going to get expelled, you do know that?" Frank laughed. "Keep screwing with their brains every year and one of them is going to get you into serious trouble."

"Nah," James said. "It's all in good fun."

"Okay, so new Quidditch team, new heads," Remus said, ticking them off on his fingers. "We're also getting a new Defense professor."

"That's right, ol' Seresin is in hiding now." Sirius said.

"Whatever happened to him anyhow?" Frank asked.

"It's complicated." James said, sharing a look with the other boys. "But his wife was taken by the Raiders and his son was murdered, so Dumbledore promised to protect him and his wife."

"Who Dumbledore found first, obviously." Remus said.

"I thought it was obvious, that's why I didn't mention it." James said, throwing a chess piece at Remus.

"I was just clarifying."

"I'm going to go find the trolley." Sirius said, standing up. "Anyone want anything?"

"Nah." James said. "I'm not hungry."

"So I'll bring you back a few pumpkin pasties?"

"That would be great." James nodded.

"What about you three?"

"I'd like some sugar quills." Remus said.

"Chocolate frogs." Peter said.

"I'd like some sugar quills, too." Frank said.

"Well, I'm not paying for all of you." Sirius said. "I'll go and buy the sweets but…" He held his hand out expectantly. The boys all rummaged through their pockets and handed Sirius some coins. "Alright, I'll be back soon."

oOoOo

Severus Snape was sitting in one of the larger compartments in the middle of the train with most of the other Slytherins in his year as well as a few above and below his year, but he really wished he wasn't.

Some of them were playing chess, some exploding snap, and others were just gathered around in little groups chatting. All the noise they were making was giving him a headache. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cool window, willing the train to move faster so they would arrive at the school and he could go up to his dorm and sleep. Of course, first he would have to sit through the sorting and the welcome feast. He sighed.

He hadn't been ready for school to start this year. Both years previously, he had been more than ready to for the term to start, but this year it was different. This year he hadn't spent most of his summer locked inside his house with his angry father and his cowardly mother. This year he had spent his summer on the swings, or walking round the pond with Lily.

His friends had asked him what he had done this summer, and he had told them that he hadn't done much at all, because what was he supposed to tell them? That he had spent his summer with a Muggle-born? They wouldn't take lightly to that.

Severus took a deep breath and thought back to one of his favorite days of the summer.

"Don't you wish we could still get away with using magic?" Lily asked, tilting her head to the side and picking a flower that had yet to bloom. "Do the little stuff that we used to, you know."

"Like jumping off the swings and floating back down to the ground?" Severus asked, smiling over at her. He picked a flower of his own, a fully bloomed one, and exchanged it for Lily's.

"Exactly." She said, twirling the flower around in her fingers. "I don't even think I could anymore though. I've forgotten how."

"You actually learned how." Severus said. He saw her nose crinkle in confusion and he laughed. He seemed to be laughing a lot around her this summer. "You learned how to do magic, and now you can't do it instinctively anymore."

"Oh." Lily sighed. "Well, I don't think that's very fair."

"No, it's not."

"I loved making flowers bloom, and my stuffed toys come to life."

"You don't like what you can do now?"

"Of course I do." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "I'm just suffering from withdrawal and feeling reminiscent."

"Reminiscent?" Severus asked.

"This is where you first told me about Hogwarts." She said, motioning to the small opening under the willow. "We were lying right here when you told me that Dumbledore's beard went all the way down to his waist."

"You thought I was lying."

"You weren't." She laughed. He loved the sound of her laugh.

"Excuse me." Kyle Wilkes said, knocking into Severus and interrupting his memory.

"It's okay." Severus said, sitting up straighter and pulling the sleeves of his robe down. He looked back out the window and saw nothing but darkening fields and meadows, nothing like the pond and willow that he had been remembering.

* * *

**AN: I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think, where you think it's going, anything really. I love feedback! :)**


	3. Tea Leaves and Spiders

**AN: Here is chapter three! **

**Things you should know for this chapter: I can't think of anything. So just read away! :)**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Tea Leaves and Spiders**

The train finally pulled into Hogsmeade station .

"I think we should find Carlee." Peter said, pulling his trunk off the train and hurrying to catch up with James and Sirius. Remus, who was still suffering from Monday's full moon, wasn't moving as quickly as they were.

Peter put his trunk near the pile of luggage and went back to help Remus.

"Thanks." Remus said. "I'm going to see Madam Pomfrey as soon as the feast is over."

"Maybe you can go before." Peter said. "I'll go with you."

"I'll be fine. I'm just a bit sore."

"Why do you want to find Carlee?" James asked, coming back once he noticed half of them were missing.

"It's the carriages." Peter said. "They can be a bit-"

"Oh, right!" Sirius said. "She hasn't seen the carriages yet!"

"Frightening." Peter muttered, as James and Sirius raced off to find her.

"Frightening?" Remus asked. "What's frightening about them? I mean, they're interesting, they pull themselves, but it's not scary."

"They don't pull themselves." Peter said. Remus gave Peter a funny look as they both rushed off to catch up with James and Sirius.

"Here comes one." Sirius was saying when Peter and Remus finally caught up with them. He was standing next to Carlee and pointing at one of the carriages that was coming into view.

"What the…" Carlee whispered.

"They pull themselves." Sirius said. "Isn't that brilliant?"

"Pull themselves?" She asked. "It's not- You don't see anything pulling it?"

"No." Sirius said. "They're magical carriages that move all on their own."

"Oh." Carlee frowned, looking at the seemingly empty space in front of the carriage.

"Come on Carlee," Lily said, pulling her sleeve. "We'll take this one."

Carlee didn't move while Mary, Savanna and Lily all climbed into the carriage.

"Hurry up." Mary shouted. "It'll leave without you."

"It's safe." James said. "It's just magic."

Carlee smiled and nodded. "Right. Magic." She said, then she climbed in and sat down before the carriage sprang to life.

"That's not why I said we should find her." Peter sighed.

"We wanted to show her." Sirius shrugged. "I wanted to show her last year, but she wasn't here."

"She seemed pretty freaked out by them." Remus said, stepping into the empty carriage that had stopped in front of them.

"Maybe a bit." Sirius said. "I wonder why that is."

The next carriage arrived and the Marauders climbed inside.

Peter considered answering him, but decided not to. He really didn't want to draw that much attention to himself, especially not that kind of attention. He looked out the front of the carriage at the odd, grey horse like creatures and sighed.

oOoOo

"That's my sister." Savanna says, pointing at a curly haired blond who looked nothing like her. "Look how nervous she is." She smiled at her. "I told her everything would be fine."

"You were nervous too." Mary said. "It's completely natural to be nervous."

"I know." Savanna said. "But she was acting all calm and collected before we left home. I knew it was all just an act."

Lily looked around the table and could feel herself filling to the brim with excitement. She didn't know how she made it through the whole summer at home. This is where she belonged, with her friends, around magic, in this castle. Everything at Hogwarts was absolutely splendid.

"Alice?" She asked, turning away from Mary and Savanna to look at the girl on her left.

"Hmm?"

"Are you glad to be back?" She asked, smiling really widely.

Alice looked at her like she was a bit foolish, and she probably was, and then nodded. "Clair put a bit of a damper on the train ride, but nothing beats the feeling of walking through the doors." She said nodding towards the Entrance Hall, then she cast a glance up at the enchanted ceiling. It was a deep navy blue, with small pin-pricks of light and a large round moon. "And I love that too."

"Exactly." Lily agreed.

"There's our new professor." Mary said, nodding up towards the staff table where an elderly woman was taking a seat next to Professor Sprout and Professor Slughorn. "She looks really old."

"She does, doesn't she?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side and looking at the new professor inquisitively. "She looks friendly though."

"Shhh." Savanna said. "Gisele's getting sorted!"

The girls fell quiet and returned their attention to the sorting.

"House, Gisele." Professor McGonagall called off her list.

Gisele walked up to the stool and sat down nervously. Lily looked over at Savanna and saw her smiling encouragingly up at her sister, who was looking at her anxiously.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted. Gisele beamed and rushed down to join the Gryffindor table, who cheered politely for her.

"Why didn't she come and sit with me?" Savanna asked, leaning forward and looking down the table. "She doesn't know anyone yet."

"Maybe she wants to make friends." Lily said. "You know, like we did when we were first years."

"Remember, Savanna?" Mary asked. "We all met during the feast."

"I know…" She said. "You're right. Of course you're right. I'm being silly."

"We know." Mary said. "I wish the sorting would hurry up. I'm hungry."

"I offered to let you have some of my pumpkin pasties." Alice said.

"I don't like to eat much on the train. Then I get full too fast during the feast."

"Well… okay then." Alice said, looking amused.

The sorting continued. Jeremy and Derik McKinnon were sorted into Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively. A tiny girl names Sara Overton surprised almost everyone in the room by getting sorted into Slytherin and likewise, Kyle Wilkes' little brother Nicholas, shocked everyone by being sorted into Gryffindor.

"That's what happened to you." Carlee said quietly, looking at Sirius. "The Wilkes' were always exclusively Slytherin."

"Not anymore." James said, watching with mild interest as Nicholas Wilkes sat down at the front of the Gryffindor table, with his back towards the Slytherins. He didn't look too happy about his the sorting hat's decision.

"If his family is anything like mine," Sirius said. "I wish him luck."

"Maybe you could talk to him." Remus said.

"Maybe." Sirius said, without any intention doing so.

"It would be helpful." Remus pushed.

"Potentially." Sirius said.

"It helped you." Peter said.

"What? No one talked to me after I was sorted into Gryffindor. And I had you prats. I was glad I wasn't in Slytherin."

"I meant after your mother sent you the howler." Peter said. "And Carlee talked to you."

"I did." Carlee said.

"Not about the howler." Sirius said. "You just sat next to me in Charms, it didn't have anything to do with the howler."

"Yes it did." James said. "You weren't sitting with us because the howler had upset you."

"And Carlee wasn't sitting with Lily because the howler had upset her." Remus said.

"It's true." Carlee said, shifting round uncomfortably. "I sat next to you because I thought you would want someone to treat you like it hadn't happened. Even the teachers were looking at you sympathetically."

Remus and Peter shared victorious glances. They had been right. Carlee did want them to treat her normally. Though Sirius didn't notice their look, or the meaning behind her words because he was too caught up on something else. "We became friends because you felt sorry for me?"

"No you prat. I didn't feel sorry for you. I empathized with you. You weren't the only one getting letters from your mother. Mine just didn't shout at me during breakfast."

"That's really why you sat down next to me though?" Sirius asked. "Because of the howler?"

"Technically." Carlee shrugged. "It doesn't matter though."

"It matters to me." Sirius said.

"Why?" Carlee asked. "I became friends with you because I like you, not because of the stupid howler."

"I know, but technically we're friends because of my mother."

Carlee contemplated this for a moment. "You don't think we would have become friends if I hadn't sat next to you in Charms? I mean, we're in the same year, we had all the same classes, you do talk to my other friends. You don't think it would have turned out the same way?"

"Who knows?"

"We would have befriended her anyway." James said. "I know. Now shut up."

oOoOo

"Welcome boys and girls, to another year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore said, standing before his owl podium and looking out at all four houses. "First things first," He motioned to the older woman seated amongst the professors. "I would like to introduce to you all your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Jewell." There was some polite applause before Dumbledore continued. He didn't bother mentioning what happened to last year's Defense professor since most of the pupils had come to accept that there was going to be a new one each year, and those who had yet to accept this, were going to soon.

"I would also like to congratulate this year's head pupils. Miss Amelia Bones of Ravenclaw and Mr. Malcolm Fawley of Hufflepuff. Please give these two outstanding pupils a round of applause." They did. "Now, tuck in!" He clapped his hands and food suddenly appeared along the four long house tables and the staff table. The new students cried out surprise and the older students groaned in appreciation.

oOoOo

When the feast was over everyone trudged up to their common rooms, and lazily found their way to their dormitories.

"I've missed this bed." Carlee said, falling face first onto the large bed that had added itself to the third year girls dormitory since her arrival. "Ev brilly issed tif bah."

"What?" Mary laughed.

Carlee turned her head and laughed. "I said, 'I've _really _missed this bed."

"Sorry I didn't catch that." Mary laughed.

The other girls started trickling in as Mary, Savanna, Lily and Carlee put on their night clothes.

"Carlee?" Janis Parks asked, when she spotted the blonde girl with one arm through her nightgown. "I didn't know you were back! Why didn't anyone tell me?" She looked at her friends who looked just as surprised as she did. Carlee finished pulling on her nightgown and then played with the sleeves.

"I didn't know either!" Yvette said, putting her hands in the air.

"I thought you knew." Bianca shrugged. Arianna nodded her head in agreement.

"Were you one the train?" Janis asked.

"Yes." Carlee said.

"She was in the same compartment as us." Mary said.

"What?"

"Not the whole time." Savanna said. "I think you missed each other. She had just gone to and say hello to other people when you came in the compartment."

"Oh." Janis said. "Well it's good to see that you're back."

"Yes," Yvette agreed. "And I'm sorry about your family. I'm really going to miss your sister."

"Yvette!" Janis hissed, looking exasperatedly at her friend.

Everyone then turned to look at Carlee, who had frozen with her school tie in her hands.

"I'm sorry." Yvette said. "I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Why not?" Carlee said, folding her tie in half and placing it on her bedside table. "Thank you."

"What?" Yvette asked.

"Thank you." Carlee repeated. "For saying what you said about my family. I'm going to miss E- Ella too." She didn't make eye contact with anyone, but she didn't start crying either.

"I can't imagine what you went through." Janis said, not wanting Carlee to think she didn't care.

"I know!" Delilah said, speaking up from her bed. "I don't know what I would do if I were in your shoes."

Carlee could feel the blood pounding in her ears and her eyes started to sting. It shouldn't upset her like this, she felt stupid. It happened over a year ago, she should be fine now. "Thank you." She forced herself to say, then she grabbed her toothbrush and ran to the bathroom locking the door behind her.

I'm just overwhelmed, she thought. It's the first day back and it's overwhelmed me. I'm not used to people talking about my family, I'm not used to people trying to comfort me. It's okay to cry, she thought as the tears slide down her cheeks. It's okay to cry.

"What was that?" Lily asked, once Carlee had locked herself in the bathroom. "You didn't need to all do that."

"We were just trying to be nice." Janis said. "And supportive."

"But you saw how she reacted when Yvette said something, why would you _all_ say something right after that?" Savanna asked.

"Sorry." Janis sighed. "I won't talk to her then."

"You didn't first year." Mary muttered under her breath.

When Carlee came out of the loo, everyone pretended to be busy going through their trunks or straightening the blankets on their bed. Carlee didn't notice their efforts though because she seemed to be very interested in the floor.

"I'm sorry I reacted like that." Carlee said. Lily wished she could tell her to shut up without sounding really rude. She didn't think that Carlee had anything to apologize for. "It's really nice of you all to be… so nice to me." No one said anything and Carlee didn't wait for them too. She climbed into bed and pulled the hangings closed.

oOoOo

Divination was the first class that the third year Gryffindors had on Monday morning, a class that none of them had taken as of yet.

Professor Edric had the classroom set up so there were three long thin tables running parallel to each other. There were stools set up along both sides of the tables and they all had cushions of assorted colors and patterns on them. There were large circular rugs overlapping each other on the ground, and candles on just about every available surface. There was no desk in the front of the classroom for the professor himself, simply a large dark green chair facing the tables.

"What the…" Sirius muttered as he walked into the room

"Please!" Professor Edric called out to them. "Take a seat anywhere you would like. I want you to feel completely relaxed."

"Anywhere we want?" James asked.

"Yes." The professor nodded. "Where ever you would be most comfortable."

"So there won't be set seats?" Sirius asked.

"Of course not! The art of Divination does not let itself become known before students who feel confined or restrained."

"I think I'm going to like this class." Sirius said, looking over at James mischievously.

The boys took a seat in the middle of the room and let their fellow pupils fill in around them. When everyone was seated, Professor Edric walked over towards his chair and took a seat. He looked as one would expect an aged man who spends very little time outside, or in public view to look. He had a long scraggly grey beard that went down to stomach, he was so thin that his robes looked as though they had swallowed him, and his skin was waxy looking and very wrinkly. His eyelids drooped very low making him look extremely tired.

"I will start this lesson off with a warning." He said, blinking very slowly. His voice didn't fit his appearance. It was too high pitched, and excited sounding to be coming from such an old and tired looking man. "Not all of you will be able to successfully navigate through the ancient and noble art that is Divination. Some of you will not be able to comprehend what significance the yolk of a cracked egg may hold. But," He leaned forward and lifted his droopy eyelids a bit higher. "If you all keep an open mind, and try your best, there is no reason that you should not succeed in the class."

He stood up and walked over to a cupboard that was in the back corner, near a fireplace. "Today, we will be examining tea leaves to predict the future of our classmates." He flicked his wand and the cupboard door flew open. He flicked it again and about two or three dozen teacups, a few less tins of tealeaves and a dozen tea kettles shot out and flew over to the pupils. When each pupil had a teacup in front of them, Professor Edric went back to his chair.

"If you will all put some leaves into your cup and then pour some hot water into it, you don't need a lot." He waited for them to follow his instructions.

"This is a joke." Sirius muttered, taking the tea kettle from a Hufflepuff girl that was sitting next to him. "How are we going to tell our future from tealeaves?" James shrugged.

"He said to keep an open mind." Remus said, though he too looked sceptical. Sirius snorted.

"It's tea. I drink tea all the time, there's nothing special about it."

"We all have our own opinions." Professor Edric said, not lifting his gaze to look at Sirius. "But why don't we keep our negative thoughts to ourselves as not to ruin the experience for the others?"

Sirius muttered something under his breath and shook his head.

When everyone had their tea poured, Professor Edric told them to drink up and then exchange teacups with the person across from them. Sirius and James exchanged with Peter and Remus.

"Now open your books to the first few pages to decipher the shapes of the tealeaves." He said. "You must be careful not to touch the tealeaves though."

"Okay," Sirius sighed, pulling open his book. "I guess I'll read your future first, Pete." He looked down in the small white teacup and then back at the book. "I suppose that could be a bush, which means you'll get invited into some society." He flipped to the next page. "And that could be a building, which means a removal. Though it could just as easily be a cloud. But that means trouble, so I'm going to say it's a building. Removal doesn't sound as bad as trouble, right?" Peter shrugged.

"It's still a pretty sketchy fortune." He said. "Now your turn." He pulled out his book and examined Sirius's tealeaves. "That looks like a bull, maybe. So you're going to get slandered by an enemy."

"Doesn't that happen to me almost every other day?" Sirius asked, thinking of all the Pure-blood Slytherins that detested him because of which house he was in.

"This looks like a spider," Peter said looking into the cup and then consulting the book. "Which means that you're going to get some money."

"Not too bad." Sirius said. "Though I don't know where I would get any money from." He turned to James and Remus. "What did you two get?"

"Looming death and a happy marriage." James said, looking quite amused.

"I got betrayal and happiness." Remus said, looking equally amused. "You?"

"I'll get slandered and receive money."

"I'm going to join a society and then get something removed. Or maybe removed from something." Peter said.

"Maybe removed from the society." Sirius laughed.

"This is sort of fun." Remus said. "I mean, it's better than lectures or impossible spell work." Sirius nodded.

"I suppose so." He said. "I still think it's a joke."

"Me too." James said.

One the other side of the room, Lily was staring down at Carlee's tealeaves with her brow crinkled in frustration. "It doesn't look like anything in here." She said, flipping through the pages.

"Lily," Carlee said, calmly. "Why don't you put the book down and just tell me what the tealeaves look like."

"Fine." Lily huffed, closing the book. It really did just look like clumps of tea leaves. She tried squinting. "I suppose this looks like some sort of wheel." She said. "Is that in the book?"

"Yes." Carlee smiled. "_Wheel- an inheritance will come to you_." She read. "Anything else?"

"Oh!" She said excitedly. "If I turn the cup this way, that clump there looks like a unicorn."

"_Unicorn- a scandal is approaching._" Carlee laughed. "I wasn't expecting that."

"A unicorn means a scandal?"

"That's what the book says. Okay, your turn." She passed the book to Lily and took the tea cup in her hands. "That looks just like an umbrella, but I doubt that's in the book…"

"It is!" Lily said. "_Umbrella- you will suffer through annoyance and trouble._ That's not a good sign."

"Well, this looks like a pig. What does that mean."

"_Pig- a sign of both good and bad luck. You will have a faithful relationship, but envious friends._" Lily put the book down. "My future's not looking too good, is it?"

"You get to have a faithful relationship." Carlee said.

"Yes, but it makes my friends upset."

"I have a unicorn plotting some scandal against me." Carlee said with a grin. "I think we're both in for it." Lily laughed.

oOoOo

They had Care of Magical Creatures after Divination. Everyone walked down to the area that was set up for the class talking about their unfortunate futures.

"Mine said that I was going to get into financial trouble and die." Savanna said, laughing. "I swear, almost every other person's said that they were going to die."

"I had death and sorrow." Mary sighed. "But can we not talk about Divination? I'm actually really excited about this class."

"Care of Magical Creature?" Carlee asked. "Why?"

"I don't know." Mary said. "I like animals, and I want to see a unicorn."

"Ooo! Do you think we'll get to?" Lily asked.

"Hopefully." Mary said. "My brother Ben said he got to see one, but the boys had to stay back because Unicorns don't like boys."

"Who doesn't like boys?" Sirius asked, coming up in between the four girls.

"Unicorns." Mary said, not perturbed in the slightest by his sudden arrival. "That's what my brother told me."

"Well, the unicorns haven't met me yet." Sirius said, confidently. "I'm sure I'll change their mind."

"You're daft." Carlee laughed, swatting his arm.

"You're rude." He countered.

"Children," James said, walking up next to Sirius. "Behave yourselves."

"Are you excited about this class?" Mary asked, no one in particular.

"Nah, Kettleburn's lost a few fingers because of it and I'd like to keep all of mine." James said.

"No one has ever lost a finger in this class." Mary said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" James asked.

"Potter, stop trying to scare her." Lily chided. "I'm sure this class is going to be a lot of fun."

"I'm sure it's going to be dead boring." James said.

"I don't really care what you're sure of." Lily said.

"Children," Sirius mocked, attempting to sound like James but using a falsetto. "Behave yourselves."

"I don't sound like that, git." James said, shoving Sirius.

"Oi!" Mary shouted, as Sirius fell into her. "Watch it."

"Sorry, McDonald." Sirius said. "It was James' fault."

"I don't care, keep yourself off me." Mary said, shoving Sirius towards James.

"Do you really think this class is going to be fun?" James asked Lily. "Or did you just say that because I said I didn't think it was going to be?"

"I think it will be fun." Lily said. "I haven't seen many magical creatures since I've been at Hogwarts other than the ones we worked with in DADA."

"But we're going to have to take care of them." James said. "And they're not going to trust us with anything really interesting."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"I bet we'll have to take care of something really boring, like a Flobberwormor something."

"Okay, that's boring to you." Lily said. "But I've never even seen a Flobberworm."

"You'll like it for about three seconds." James said. "Flobberworms don't do anything, they just lie there. Like any other worm."

"Over here, class!" Professor Kettleburn called. He was standing next to a large crate, it was shaking slightly and James started regretting what he had said to Lily. Maybe this was going to be a fun class. "We're going to get started right away, none of that introduction stuff. I've got something special for you all. I just found her not ten minutes ago." He turned toward the crate and opened it, sticking his hand inside. "This is an Acromantula." He pulled his hand out and with it came a spider that was bigger than their textbooks. Savanna screamed and jumped behind Mary. She wasn't the only one who screamed. "Now, don't worry." Kettleburn said. "It's not going to hurt you. It doesn't have its fangs yet, this is a baby you see."

"That's a baby?" A Ravenclaw asked.

"You mean it gets bigger?" Savanna whimpered.

"Of course it does!" Kettleburn laughed. "A fully grown Acromantula can have legs that are fifteen feet long."

Savanna's eyes went wide.

"Where did you say you found that?" Frank, who was more towards the front of the class, asked nervously.

"I found this little beauty at the edge of the forest." Kettleburn said. "But don't worry, his mum is probably somewhere in the heart of the forest. At least that's what Hagrid tells me."

"How many of those live in the forest?" Another Ravenclaw asked.

"Oh I don't know, a couple hundred maybe."

"This isn't boring, Potter." Lily said, leaning closer to him.

"Nope, not at all." James said. "It's bloody terrifying." Lily nodded.

"Can we touch it?" Sirius asked, causing most of the class to turn their heads and stare at him.

"You want to pet the spider?" Kettleburn asked. "Sure, come on up." Sirius sauntered up to where Kettleburn was standing and reached his hand out, petting the oversized spiders front leg.

"It's soft." He said. "Almost like petting a cat or something."

"Do you want to hold it"

"Will it try and get away?"

"Nah." He handed the spider to Sirius. "Make sure you get a good grip on its body." He turned back to the class. "Does anyone know what Acromantulas eat? And your name is?"

"Mary McDonald." Mary said, lowering her hand. "They eat meat."

"Very good, Mary. 5 points to Gryffindor."

Sirius looked like he was enjoying holding the very large spider. "So if his mum was to come out of the forest right now," He asked. "Would she try and eat me for holding her baby?"

"Nah." Kettleburn said, again. "Spiders don't take care of their children. They're on their own from birth. She wouldn't even recognize this spider as her own."

"What are the chances of a fully grown Acromantula coming out of the woods right now?" A Ravenclaw asked, glancing fearfully into the Forbidden Forest that was just in front of them.

"Very slim." Kettleburn chuckled. "I've never seen a full grown Acromantula before. Hagrid said he has, but he won't take me to see it, so I don't know whether I believe him or not."

Just then, the spider in Sirius's hands started to struggle to get away and Sirius, who had not been expecting the spider to move, dropped it. The spider started running towards the class and everyone started shrieking and running away from it. Everyone except Sirius, who was running after the spider.

"Help me out, James!" Sirius called. "It won't hurt you." Now that everyone's attention was on James, he had to do something. He dropped his book bag on the ground and started chasing after the spider with Sirius.

Kettleburn threw down a slab of raw meat in the middle of the circle that the class had made while running from the spider, and the spider jumped on it, trying to gnaw on it with its gums.

"You can't just catch an Acromantula by running after it, you need to trap it." He laughed while dropping the crate over it. "But another 5 points to Gryffindor for being the only two willing to try."

* * *

**AN: I would love some feedback! Reviews are awesome, really and truly.**


	4. The Snitch

**AN: Things you need to know for this chapter: There was an incident last year where all the Muggle-borns in the school were receiving threatening notes from someone in the Slytherin house. Everything else you need to know about this incident is explained in the chapter.**

**Also, the boys came up with the idea to become animagi last year after reading a book and attending a transfiguration class. **

**I think that's all so go ahead and read it now! :D**

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Snitch **

"Well, that was something else." Savanna said, as the class made its way back towards the castle after their first Care of Magical Creatures class. "I really don't like spiders as a general rule, but that spider was scary."

"It wasn't scary." Sirius said. "It didn't even have teeth."

"I don't care." Savanna said. "It was huge, and apparently not fully grown."

"I liked it." Mary said. "Not the spider, but the class. It got my heart racing."

"It was alright." Remus said. "But I hope that the next creature he shows us doesn't charge at us."

"Agreed." Mary said.

"Wait," Savanna said, pointing a finger at Sirius. "Things don't need to have teeth to be frightening."

"Name one thing, besides the spider, that doesn't have teeth and is scary." Sirius said.

"A jellyfish."

"Jellyfish aren't scary!" James laughed. "They're actually rather appealing."

"They're terrifying." Savanna said. "You've obviously never been stung by one."

"I can't say that I have," James shrugged. "But I still wouldn't be afraid of them, even if I had been stung.

"What else?" Sirius asked.

"Babies." Mary said, without hesitation. Sirius thought this one over and then nodded.

"I'll give you that one, McDonald." The others laughed.

"Where is everyone headed to next?" Lily asked, taking out her timetable. "I've got Arithmancy."

"Me too." James said, smiling.

"Why are you taking Arithmancy?" Sirius asked. "We could have a free period right now."

"You have a free period?" Remus asked.

"So do I." Peter said.

"Me as well." Mary sighed. "But what use is it if all my friends are in class?"

"Sorry." Savanna said. "But Ancient Runes sounds fascinating, and I'm excited about it."

"Do you know where that class is?" Remus asked. "I've got that next too."

"Everyone just be quiet for a minute." Sirius said. "James, why are you taking Arithmancy?"

"My mum told me I had to." James said. "Now sod off."

They split up when they reached the Great Hall; Sirius, Peter and Mary going up to the common room to enjoy their free period, Remus and Savanna heading to the fourth floor for Ancient Runes, and Lily, Carlee and James heading to the second floor for Arithmancy.

"Do you think a lot of people are going to take this class?" Lily asked, looking at Carlee.

"Probably not." James answered. "It's supposed to be really hard, so not a lot of people take it. I think they put all the houses in one class."

"I was asking, Carlee."

"Well, I answered you." James said.

"I didn't want you to."

"You should have specified when you asked your question."

"You're annoying." Lily said.

"I am not." James said.

"Oh, believe me, you are."

"Who else is taking this class?" Carlee asked, ending James and Lily's bickering.

"I don't know." James said. "I think Frank said he was."

When they reached the classroom, the door was already open and James had been right, students from all four houses were in the room taking their seats.

"Lils!" Severus called out, he was sitting in the front of the room, with his bag on the seat next to him. "I saved you a seat." James looked around the room and noticed that the only other Slytherins in the class were Danielle McCulloch, Chelsea Keenin, and Adam Clovis. There was no one around that Severus had to try and impress, so of course he was going to be friendly to Lily in public. James scowled. He really didn't like the fact that she didn't notice how he behaved differently depending on who was in the room.

"Sev!" She called back, walking away from James and Carlee to go sit next to her friend. "Carlee, do you want to sit next to me?" She added, almost as an afterthought.

"I don't think there's room." Carlee said, seeing that there was only one empty desk next to Lily.

"Yes, there is." Lily said, motioning towards the empty desk.

"Not for both of us." Carlee said, pointing at James.

"Oh." She looked at James. "I'm sure he can find somewhere else to sit. You can sit here if you want." She said.

"I'll sit with James." Carlee said. "Thank you though."

"James! Carlee!" They turned round and saw Frank sitting on the other side of the room. There were a few empty desks next to him so they started walking over there.

There were only five Gryffindors in the class (the fifth being Arianna, who ended up sitting next to Carlee), a handful of Hufflepuffs, seven Ravenclaws and four Slytherins.

"What did you have this morning?" Lily asked Sev. She knew she had appeared to sound a bit rude before, but Sev and James got along as well as a troll and a hippogriff. If Sev hadn't been in the class, Lily would have sat next to Carlee regardless of who was on the other side of her, but he was in the class, so she didn't have to sit anywhere near James.

"Herbology and Transfiguration." Severus said. "Which I have with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses. We don't have another class together until tomorrow." He sighed.

"I know." Lily said. "Gryffindor and Slytherin aren't paired much this year. It's too bad." Severus nodded.

"Lily?" He asked, while looking down at his textbook.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go down to the lake after classes today?"

"I don't think so." Lily said, pulling some parchment and a quill out of her bag. "I've already promised Savanna and Mary that I would go to the library with them."

"It's the first day of classes!" Sev laughed, not showing how disappointed he was. "What do you need to go to the library for?"

"Professor Edric gave us homework." Lily sighed. "We have to write two feet on Tassaomancy, which is the practice of divining ones future using tea leaves."

"That sounds like fun." Severus said, with a straight face. "You didn't have to do that, did you?"

"Yes, we did." Lily laughed. "Apparently, I'm going to be in a faithful relationship that makes my friends envious. You should have heard some of the other people's predictions. Almost every other prediction was that they were going to die."

"I can't wait until I have to do that." His voice was dripping in sarcasm and Lily laughed.

"Okay class," Professor Vector said, clapping his hands together and walking to the front of the room. "Let's get started, shall we?"

oOoOo

After dinner that night, James found some of his fellow Quidditch players round the common room fire.

"Who's captain?" He nearly shouted upon spotting them. Seth smiled up at him and raised his hand.

"Seth?" James asked, a bit shocked. He had expected Rodger to get captain. James thought he was one of the best players on the team, he would even admit that Rodger was better than him. "Congrats!" He said. "Can I bother you about tryouts yet?"

"You don't need to tryout, James." Seth laughed. "You're good, I've seen you play."

"I know that, Seth."

"He means," Rodger said. "When are we going to find our new players, since half of our team left school at the end of last year." He sounded a bit resentful. And James could understand that. Rodger thought he should have been made captain last year, except Emery Brown had been captain instead. Everyone knew why though, she was good. Really good, maybe an even better coach than she was a player. But Seth wasn't as good a player as Rodger. James could only assume that McGonagall had seen something in him that James hadn't.

"Right," Seth said, the tips of his ears turning red. James supposed he felt like he didn't deserve to be captain while sitting next to Rodger. "I'll put a notice on the bulletin board. McKinnon is probably going to be beater though. Emery was training him last year so that he could be on this year's team, and he's good. I don't know what we're going to do for the other chaser and the keeper positions though."

"James!" Sirius called, heading towards the stairs. "Come on!"

"I've got to go." James said. "Let me know when you decide about tryouts."

"Will do." Seth said.

"What?" He asked, when he reached Sirius.

"We've got to go do some planning." He said, rubbing his hands together. "We've got a new head boy and girl, who aren't in our house. We have to get creative."

On the other side of the room, Mary, Lily and Savanna were climbing in through the porthole.

"Did you see where she went after dinner?" Savanna asked, referring to Carlee.

"No." Mary said. "But she can go off on her own if she wants to, we shouldn't force ourselves on her, she just got back. She's probably not used to constantly being round so many people."

"We shouldn't let her become withdrawn either." Savanna said.

"She's been gone about two hours." Lily said with a smile. "I don't think we have to worry about her just yet."

"I worry about everything." Savanna said.

"You like to overreact to things too, Savanna." Mary said. "Like with-"

"That's not fair." Savanna said, cutting her off. "I thought that boy was going to hex her."

"Firstly, your sister was laughing." Mary said. "And secondly, the boy didn't even have his wand out. It was a ruler."

"It looked like a wand." Savanna said.

"No it didn't."

"Leave her alone, Mary." Lily said, laughing. "She's just trying to take care of her sister. I think it's sweet."

"You're the only one." Savanna sighed. "Gisele won't even talk to me."

"You just scared all her new friends away!" Mary laughed. "I wouldn't talk to you either."

The girls walked up to their dormitory and fell down onto Lily's bed, which was closest to the door.

"I'm exhausted." Mary yawned.

"And it's only the first day." Savanna said.

"Why do you always look on the negative side of things?" Mary asked, pulling Savanna's hair.

"Ow! I don't. I was just saying, you're already tired and it's only the first day."

"Maybe I'm just tired because today was a long day." Mary said.

"Would you two stop bickering for a couple minutes?" Lily asked. "Please?"

"Sorry." Mary sighed. "I'm in an argumentative mood."

"We can tell." Savanna muttered.

"Savanna." Lily sighed.

"Sorry."

The door to the dormitory opened, and Carlee walked in. She smiled at the girls before joining them on Lily's bed.

"Where were you?" Savanna asked.

"I was with Alice and Felicity." She said. "We ran into Clair." Mary sat up straighter.

"Did something happen?" Carlee nodded.

"I don't know what she has against Alice, but as soon as she saw her walking around with Felicity and I, she started bugging her again."

"About what?"

"Being a Pure-blood." Carlee sighed. "She said that Alice didn't think that Clair and their other dorm mates were good enough to be friends with because they weren't Pure-bloods like Felicity and I."

"What is she thinking?" Mary said. "Who is this Clair girl anyway?"

"Prejudices can go both ways." Lily said, thinking of her sister. "Some Pure-bloods look down on the Muggle-borns. So some Muggle-borns or the people who are related to Muggle-borns assume that all pure bloods think they're better than them."

"But Alice has never said anything about her being better than anyone." Mary said. "It's not fair."

"It's not fair that the Raiders think being a Muggle-born makes you deserving of death either." Carlee said. "Clair just doesn't like Alice, I don't know why."

"I have a question for you that's a bit off topic." Savanna said, looking at Carlee. "What do they report about the Raiders over in America?"

"Not much actually." Carlee said. "Before I left, there was an article about how Henderson's got everything under control now, and how the wizarding community in England can 'breathe easy again.'"

"Seriously?" Lily asked.

"Yes." Carlee said.

"Our papers have been saying things similar to that." Mary said. "Remember the article that was printed at the beginning of July?"

"No." Lily said. "None of us get the Daily Prophet."

"Oh, right." She said. "It said that the Raiders were too afraid of Henderson's 'new' ministry to do anything."

"Who runs the Daily Prophet?" Savanna asked. "Because they have to be completely thick to run a story like that."

"People are scared." Mary said. "The Raiders are completely invisible unless they're attacking people and no one can catch them. People wanted to read something like that in the Prophet."

"Still," Carlee said. "It's unrealistic. People don't honestly believe that, do they?"

"I don't know." Mary sighed. "They want to."

oOoOo

The first week of school continued in the same fast paced frenzy that the first day possessed and James quickly realized that third year was going to be a lot harder than second. He had eleven subjects to keep up with now as opposed to seven. And even though Sirius was taking only ten subjects and had many more free periods than James and Remus, he too found it harder to keep up than last year. All their extra homework left them with a lot less time to play pranks and otherwise get into trouble and they all would have made it through the first week without getting a detention had Sirius not tripped Evan Rosier as Professor Flitwick was walking around the corner of the Charms corridor.

Remus didn't seem to be having any problems though, he liked the challenge and didn't appear to mind working on his homework in all of his spare time. He was sitting in the common room with Savanna and Orion Buckle, all of them working on their Ancient Runes assignment together when Sirius walked down from the boy's dormitory and plopped down in the seat next to Remus.

Remus ignored him and continued to try and explain why the translation on the third question couldn't be what Orion had suggested. "That's not the correct symbol for that word." He said, pointing at a swirly character.

"Professor Rivet said that if it was followed by this symbol," Savanna said, pointing at the symbol after the one they were debating. "Then it changed the meaning somehow. I just can't remember if it changes the word completely, or just makes it plural or something." She pulled her notes closer to her and began shuffling through them.

Sirius sighed loudly, but Remus still didn't acknowledge him. "It changes the meaning." He said to Orion and Savanna. "I'm almost positive."

"I'm just checking." Savanna said.

Sirius cleared his throat now.

"What?" Remus snapped. "I'm busy right now."

"I'm bored." Sirius sighed.

"Then go find James."

"He's doing homework."

"Then find Peter."

"He's doing homework too."

"Then why don't you do homework?"

"I don't want to."

"What about Frank? Did you see what he was doing?"

"Yes." Sirius muttered. "He's with Stephen and Carl."

"Go and hang out with them."

"I don't want to do that either."

"Then I can't help you."

"You could take a break." Sirius said.

"Or I could finish this now and not have to worry about doing it later."

"Fine!" Sirius said. "I'll go start my Muggle Studies homework." He stood up and took three steps before turning back towards Remus. "Do you see what you've done to me? It's Saturday morning, and I'm going to do _homework_!" He scoffed. "_Homework_!" He repeated, turning towards the stairs. "Me! On Saturday morning." He continued muttering as he walked off.

"I've found it!" Savanna said, lifting up one of her pages of notes in triumph. "It looks like we were all wrong." She said. "It makes the phrase a question."

"This class is going to kill me." Orion said, dropping his head down to the desk. "I'm never going to remember all this."

"Me neither." Savanna sighed. Remus looked ruefully at the desk full of notes.

"Well, let's just finish this." He said.

James was sitting on his bed with, what he deemed, his larger-than-necessary Arithmancy book propped up against his pillow, a bottle of ink balanced on his knee and a half filled sheet of parchment in front of him.

He heard the dormitory door open, but didn't look up to see who it was who had entered the room. He dipped his quill in the inkwell again and continued with his essay.

He heard someone sigh loudly and slam a trunk lid closed.

"Saturday morning." They muttered. "I could be outside playing Quidditch, except my mates are gits."

"Shut up, Sirius." James laughed, recognizing the voice.

"I'm not talking to you." Sirius snapped. "I'm doing my _homework_."

"If your homework is to complain about everything, you're definitely getting an 'O.'" Peter said. He was sitting at the end of his bed, using his trunk as a desk.

"I'm not talking to you either." Sirius said. He slammed his book down on his own trunk and began reading.

It was silent in the room for about fifteen minutes, and then James closed his book, rolled up his parchment and put a cork stopper in his inkwell.

"I've finished." He said, jumping off his bed. "What do you want to do?"

Sirius ignored him.

"Sirius, you don't have to do your homework anymore." James said. "Let's go and prank some Hufflepuffs or something."

"Shh." Sirius said, not looking up from his book. "I'm reading."

"Benjy Fenwick has a new set of robes he won't stop going on about." James said. "I was thinking we could go and see if they're worth all the fuss." Sirius looked up at James.

"That's not fair, James." He said. "I'm trying to be upset with you."

"You can do that later." James said. "Let's go. Benjy will probably be down at lunch or something."

"If we had our map finished, we could just check."

"We should work on that later today."

"That and study something that's actually worth learning." He said, closing his textbook and standing up. "Why do I need to know who invented electric-sissity." He asked. "Wizards never use that."

"What do you mean 'study something worth learning?'" Sirius gave James a look the clearly said, "I think you're completely bonkers." But that didn't make James understand, so Sirius sighed and told him.

"How to become an animagus. You know, so we can help Remus while he's a werewolf."

"Right." James said. "I brought some books from home."

"Great. We can talk about it later. Let's go see Benjy's new robes."

oOoOo

Lily was walking down one of the main staircases, the large one that led from the third floor to the second, on her way to meet Sev for a late lunch Sunday afternoon when it happened.

She had been looking down at her Arithmancy book, because she wanted to make sure she hadn't overlooked anything before she asked Sev a question about the homework. Though she told everyone that it would have happened regardless of where she was looking. She was alone, that's why it happened. There was no one else around because it was Sunday afternoon, no one was heading down to lunch, because almost everyone had already eaten, and everyone else was finishing their homework that was due Monday, or outside enjoying the sun.

She was almost halfway down the staircase when her book flew out of her hand, over the rail and hit the flagstone floor with a thud. She looked up in alarm and found Rabastan Lestrange grinning up at her from the bottom of the stairs, his wand in his hand.

"What was that for?" She asked, walking down the rest of the stairs and picking up her book.

"You're a snitch." He said. "That's what that was for."

"A snitch?" She asked. "What do you mean?"

"At the end of term back in June," Rabastan said, taking a few steps closer to her. "You told McGonagall about the notes we were sending out." Lily took a few steps back and looked round the corridor. It was then she noticed that they were the only two there.

"The notes you were sending out to all the Muggle-borns?" She asked.

"To all the Mudbloods." He corrected.

"Muggle-borns." She insisted. She could feel the atmosphere change. Rabastan's sneer turned into an ugly scowl and he grip on his wand tightened, she could see his knuckles turn white.

"Do you know what happens to Mudbloods who give their superiors a hard time?" He asked, his voice very low.

"_Superiors_?" She said, trying to sound brave. She couldn't help herself, she had to say something. "You're not my superior." Lily saw his arm twitch and bit down on her lip. She looked around the corridor again and then back at his wand. He could hex her right now. No one was here but the two of them.

"You've got some nerve." He said. "Talking to me like that." He ground his teeth together. "I am, and will always be your superior. Do you understand?"

Lily didn't say anything, she didn't move at all. She knew that she should just agree and then get away from him as quickly as she could, but she couldn't bring herself to nod her head. She was too proud. So she didn't move.

"I asked you a question." Rabastan said. Again, Lily stayed still. She barely had time to move at all when she saw his arm twitch again, but this time there was a flash of red light and she went flying back into the wall.

"You need to learn your place, Mudblood." He said, walking over to her. "Tell on me again, and you'll get worse than that."

She watched him walk away feeling a bit dazed. He seemed to be walking really slowly, and his footsteps were too loud. They echoed off the walls and pounded in Lily's ears. She lent up against the wall and noticed her vision get blurry, but for some reason it didn't seem odd to her. It was just annoying. She blinked a few times, and everything sharpened up. She saw her book on the floor a few feet away from her but she didn't feel like she had the energy to reach out and grab it. She actually felt very tired, and the wall wasn't such an uncomfortable place to take a nap. She tilted her head back and hissed when it made contact with the wall.

She brought her hand up and gingerly felt the back of her head. She found the spot that was tender, and somewhere in her mind, she was conscious of the fact that she had probably hit her head when Rabastan had jinxed her. However, that seemed to have happened such a long time ago. She brought her hand back down and yawned. She would just turn her head so the wall didn't touch her sore spot.

"Lily?" Someone called, Lily's eyelids were very heavy now and she couldn't get them to open far enough so she could see who was calling her. "Lily, what happened?" It sounded like a voice she was familiar with. "Lily, are you okay?" It asked her. She wanted to tell the voice that she was fine, just sleepy. She would tell it when she woke up, the voice could wait.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of footsteps moving very quickly and then she passed out.

oOoOo

Alice ran as fast as she could, to Professor McGonagall's office. It was the closest, and she would know what to do. Alice hadn't a clue what she should do with Lily. She had been heading back up to the Gryffindor common room after lunch and found a semi-conscious Lily at the base of a staircase.

She didn't bother to knock when she reached McGonagall's door, and was surprised to find the office occupied by more than just her Professor. Sirius and James were sitting in front of her desk with a very angry looking Benjy Fenwick at the side, with holes in his robes.

"Excuse me, Alice." McGonagall said, sternly. "I'm in the middle of something."

"I know, I'm sorry." Alice said, trying to catch her breath. "But something happened to Lily! She's hurt!"

"What happened?" McGonagall said, standing up.

"I don't know! I'll take you to her." Alice said. "We need to hurry!"

"You boys stay here," McGonagall said, walking briskly towards the door. "I'll be back shortly."

"I don't know what happened, Professor." Alice said, as she started towards Lily. "I just found her. She was barely conscious."

"Calm down, Alice." McGonagall said, though she started walking more quickly herself. "Lily is going to be okay."

"She really scared me." Alice said, rounding the last corner. Lily was slumped up against the wall, looking almost doll-like because of the awkward angles of her limbs. "Oh!" Alice cried out.

"Alice, please." McGonagall said. "She's going to be alright." The professor took out her wand and conjured up a stretcher, and then levitated Lily onto it. "Did you see what happened?" She asked, leading the stretcher down the next flight of stairs, towards the hospital wing.

"No." Alice said, not able to tear her eyes away from Lily. "I was walking back to the common room, and she was just - sprawled out on the floor. She was awake when I left her, just barely, but she was awake."

"Did you see anyone else, anyone at all?"

"No. She was alone." Alice looked up at her professor and then wished she hadn't. Professor McGonagall looked just as worried as Alice felt, and that was not at all comforting.

* * *

**AN: I hope you liked it! Tell me what you thought regardless. I love feedback, so you know, I love reviews!**


	5. Lily's Jailers

**AN: Sorry about posting this one late-ish. It's not technically late, but it's later in the day than I usually post it.**

**Things to know: James has been teasing Lily, but he hasn't said anything about actually liking her yet. He almost did last year to Sirius, but he made it sound like he was just a bit to curious about why Lily doesn't like him as a friend. **

**and**

**Carlee has a sister named Jane who is a fourth year Slytherin. **

**Okay, that's all. Read on!**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Lily's Jailers **

Madam Pomfrey was able to revive Lily very quickly and she woke up completely disoriented. She didn't know where she was or what was going on. And her head hurt, a lot.

"Don't try and sit up, dearie." Madam Pomfrey said, measuring out a potion for her. "It'll only make your head hurt more."

"Why am I here?" She asked, looking round the hospital wing. Alice was standing near her bed, looking very pale, but relived.

"You were hurt." Alice said, quietly. "I didn't see what happened though."

"Drink this." Madam Pomfrey handed her a small goblet filled with some blue liquid and she downed it without asking questions. The pain in her head lessened greatly and she pushed herself up so she was sitting.

"Do you remember what happened, Lily?" Professor McGonagall asked. She had been standing behind Alice but stepped closer to her now. "You were on the third floor. What were you doing?"

Lily ran through the day's events. She had woken up, taken a bath, gone down to breakfast, gone to the library with Arianna to borrow a few books on Arithmancy and then she had headed down to have lunch with Sev.

"I was going down to the Great Hall for lunch." Lily said. She turned her head to the right and saw her Arithmancy textbook on the table next to her. She remembered it flying out of her hands and landing on the floor. "It was Rabastan." She said. "He hexed me; I hit my head on the wall when I fell."

"Rabastan?" McGonagall asked. "Are you sure."

"Yes." Lily sighed. "He called me a snitch, for telling you about the notes last year."

"What hex did he use on you?"

"Just the knock-back jinx I think." Lily said. Then she remembered something else. "Wait! He told me I couldn't tell you."

"Couldn't tell me what, Lily?"

"About what happened. He won't leave me alone if you punish him."

"I will not allow for this behavior to go _un-_punished, Lily." McGonagall said, sternly.

"Please, professor." Lily begged. "He'll leave me alone if you don't do anything."

"I assure you that Rabastan will not give you any more trouble." She turned to go. "But if he does, you are to tell me at once."

She left the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey gave Lily another potion to drink. Once she had swallowed it, Pomfrey took the goblet and the potion bottles and walked back to her office.

"What happened?" Alice asked, sitting down on the edge of the hospital bed.

"I've already told you." Lily sighed. "I was going down to get something to eat with Sev and Rabastan attacked me."

"Is that all?" Alice asked. Lily bit her lip before caving in and retelling the whole story.

"Why didn't you tell McGonagall that he called you a- a-"

"A Mudblood?"

"Don't say that word."

"Because." Lily said. "You know what he said to me. I shouldn't have told her anything."

"Of course you should have." Alice said. "You wouldn't want Savanna to keep something like this to herself, would you?"

"Well, no." Lily said.

"Then stop being thick. I don't care if the prat threatened you. He's not going to get away with this."

"We're not doing anything, Alice."

"Of course not." Alice said, but she was already forming a plan in her head.

"Then what did you mean by that?"

"McGonagall is going to punish him. He can't just threaten you like that and expect to get away with it." Alice sighed. "You should have told McGonagall what he called you."

"It's not that big a deal."

"Yes it is, Lily." Alice said. "That's not a nice word, not one that should be used as carelessly as it is by some of the students here. Actually, I'm going to go tell her." She stood up. "Don't you think about leaving here until Madam Pomfrey says that it's okay."

"I wouldn't do that." Lily said.

"You really scared me, Lils."

"Thanks for finding me."

"It's really lucky that I did." Then she walked out of the hospital wing to find McGonagall, and maybe a few of the third year Gryffindor boys as well.

oOoOo

Lily and James had not had the simplest of relationships over the last few years. James always seemed to be doing something that Lily thought he shouldn't, and she liked to remonstrate with him. Whether he was playing a mass game of tag with half of the Gryffindor house throughout the entire school or yelling at Peter for being thick, Lily liked to tell him off for it.

James didn't particularly mind, except when he wasn't doing anything wrong and she still acted like he was. It wasn't fair in his mind. Nobody else constantly help his blunders against him. Everyone else thought most of what he did was funny, or clever. But not Lily, she always turned up her nose when he was round her.

Maybe that was what fascinated him. She most definitely wasn't like anyone else. She, for one thing, was much harder to please. James liked the challenge though. He would never admit it to his mates, but he actually did harbor something that could resemble feelings for her. Sort of.

He had joked about fancying her for the last two years, told everyone that he had fancied her, but it had all been in jest. Though he knew better than most, that there was some truth behind all jokes and now he was more aware of that than ever.

He was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace in the common room, waiting for someone to come in through the porthole who actually knew something useful. James had asked Sirius, as nonchalantly as he could manage, if he wanted to go down to the hospital wing to see what had happened to Lily, but Sirius hadn't been interested. And so, as McGonagall had requested, both boys had gone back to their common room.

He was a bit shocked to see Alice come through the porthole only ten minutes after he had entered the room himself. He would have expected her to stay with Lily, they were friends after all and she was hurt. James bit the tip of his tongue in frustration. Someone should be with Lily and, as far as he knew, Sirius, Benjy, Alice and himself were the only students who knew that anything had happened to Lily at all. Why wasn't Alice with Lily?

"James!" She called, rushing over to him. Sirius looked up at her from his place on the couch, he had been telling Peter about what they had done to Benjy's robes. "I need your help." She said.

"What is it? Is Lily alright?"

"Lily's fine, Madam Pomfrey fixed her up straight away." Alice said.

"What happened?"

"If you stop talking for a second, I'll tell you." Alice said shortly. James nodded and sat down next to Sirius, who looked interested in what had happened _now_. Alice told, what James assumed to be, an abridged tale of Rabastan attacking Lily and calling her a Mudblood and then threatening to hex her again if she told on him.

"What did she tell McGonagall for?" Sirius asked when Alice was done. "That's only going to upset him more."

"I know that." Alice huffed. "That's why I'm telling you two."

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Lily was threatened by some Slytherin." Alice said, "And attacked."

"So."

"So," James said. "We're going to do something about it."

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Because!" James said. "Slytherins are scum, and they can't get away with doing stuff like that." Sirius still looked skeptical. "You didn't need this much convincing to go after Benjy." Sirius shrugged, looking too apathetic. "What is it, Sirius?" James asked.

"Nothing, I just don't want to get any more detentions. We're already going to be cleaning the trophy room all next weekend."

"Sirius?" James said, he knew Sirius didn't care about detention.

"I don't want to cause any trouble for, Reg." He said, standing up.

"I thought you said that your brother had friends now." James said. "He doesn't need you to protect him."

"He does have friends." Sirius muttered. "Rosier and Yaxley, and I don't want to put him in the position where he has to choose between defending me and going along with what his friends will say about me." He turned his back away from James.

James dropped his shoulders and sighed. "You don't have to come then, it's just Rabastan. I'll take the clo- I mean I'll just go by myself." Sirius nodded, noticing his stumble and knowing what he was going to say.

"Go where by yourself." Carlee asked, walking up to them and plopping down on the couch next to Peter. "Maybe I'll go."

"Yes." Alice said, remembering the look on Carlee's face when Clair had been picking on Alice earlier that week. "Take Carlee."

"Take me where?" Carlee asked. So, Alice then told Carlee what had happened to Lily.

"So we're supposed to go, do what?" Carlee asked. "Hex him back? That doesn't seem right."

"You have to do something!" Alice said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"I am going to do something." Carlee said. "I'm going to make sure that Lily doesn't walk round the corridors by herself and tell my brother to keep an eye on Rabastan."

"What's your brother going to do?" Alice asked.

"He's a sixth year Slytherin." Carlee said. "I'm sure he can do something."

"I'm still going to have a go at Rabastan." James said.

"I'll go." Sirius sighed. "But I'm staying out of sight unless things get out of hand."

"You don't have to go." James said. "I'll be fine, he's only a year older than me."

"Odds are you're not going to find him alone." Sirius said. "He'll have two or three of his mates with him."

"I'll make sure he's alone." James said.

"Or," Alice said. "You could both go and make sure he never does anything like this to Lily again."

"I can't." Sirius said.

"Yes you can." She implored. "You're always looking for an excuse to pick on the Slytherins, well, here's a big one for you!"

"He doesn't have to go, Alice." James said.

"Neither do you." Carlee said. "Lily wouldn't want you too, and you'll only get in trouble. Let Professor McGonagall handle this."

"Not likely." James snorted. "She's just going to put him in detention, and I know that detention doesn't do anything to curb bad behavior."

"I think you and Sirius are the only two people who don't mind getting detention." Carlee said. "Everyone else thinks it's a drag."

"What?"

"They don't have fun in detention." Carlee said.

"We don't either." Sirius said.

"Yes you do." Peter laughed. "You never end up doing what you're supposed to, and enjoy getting on Filch's nerves."

"Okay, you're right." Sirius nodded. "I suppose I'll go with you James. Reg will understand."

"Alright, let's go."

"Not now!" Alice said, putting a hand on James' chest. "McGonagall is probably with him right now."

"We'll wait for a while, we'll just go up to our dormitory for now." Alice allowed them to pass and then turned to Carlee, who looked thoughtful.

"You don't think I should have told them?" She asked.

"Not really." Carlee said. "But they would have found out anyway."

"You would feel like I do if you had seen her."

"Maybe."

"I know you're not supposed to fight fire with fire-"

"I didn't say that." Carlee said. "Though, it's supposedly true. But what else are you supposed to do sometimes?"

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"You look guilty." Carlee said. "What else did you do?"

"Nothing." Alice said. "Honest."

"I believe you." Carlee said, pushing herself off the couch. "Let's go down and see Lily now. We don't want her walking back up here by herself."

oOoOo

James knew when he was going to have to wait for things. He didn't like waiting, but he was surprisingly good at waiting for a boy who always got whatever he wanted. He didn't go after Rabastan as soon as he had heard about what he had done to Lily. He knew that the rumor mill at Hogwarts was going to be talking about the incident for quite a while and that if he attacked Rabastan now, he would draw more attention to himself than if he waited. He was also likely to get into more trouble if he retaliated right away.

So when he stopped hearing things about how Rabastan had actually used an unforgivable curse on Lily and she was lucky to escape with her life, and started hearing about how Donna Tyler and Benjy Fenwick were caught snogging in a broom cupboard on the third floor, he thought he was is the clear.

"Sirius, come on!" He said, pulling his invisibility cloak out of his bag and tossing it to him. They were jogging down to the Quidditch pitch, which was where Rabastan was. The Slytherin team had held their tryouts earlier that day, and were now holding a practice session with their new players.

This was James' second time down at the pitch today with his invisibility cloak. That's how he knew that Rabastan would be down here. He had been _watching_ the Slytherins tryouts so that he could tell Seth about their new team. Rabastan was part of that new team.

When they got closer to the pitch, they both slipped under the cloak. They had to walk slower now, so as not to expose their ankles. They shuffled over to the Slytherin changing room and waited.

Lucius Malfoy, Jason Hayward and Rodolpus Lestrange were the first to exit, looking varying degrees of annoyed and disappointed. James knew why and almost felt sorry for them. Their new team wasn't exactly something to be excited about.

A couple more players left and then Rabastan walked out with a girl who was now a chaser on the team. James thought she looked slightly familiar but he knew he had never met her before. She had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"Come on, Jane." Rabastan was saying. "You had to know that you were going to make the team."

"I did not." The girl said, sounding bored. "Girls never make the team, your brother doesn't think we're good enough."

"That's not true." Rabastan laughed. "He doesn't think you're… tough enough. He likes to play rough."

"I know." Jane sneered. "I've seen all of the Quidditch games."

"Bloody hell." Sirius whispered under his breath, James turned his head half an inch so he could look at him. "That's Jane." James nodded. "Jane _Baker._"

"Carlee's sister?" James whispered back. Sirius nodded.

They followed the two of them, not sure what to do. They didn't know if Jane would fight them, and they didn't really want to get into a fight with their friend's sister. That didn't seem right.

"Let's just get this over with." Sirius whispered. "But I'm not going to hex her."

"Nah," James agreed. "We'll disarm her."

"If it comes to that." Sirius added. And just like that they had both agreed that they weren't going to pull their wands first. They would wait and see what the two Slytherins would do.

James pulled off the cloak and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Oi!" Sirius called out. "Rabastan!"

oOoOo

"They did what?" Lily asked, curling her toes inside her shoes and clenching her first together.

"James and Sirius talked to Rabastan." Alice said.

"I don't think it helped any." Carlee said. "Sirius said that he was, if anything, more angry when they left him."

"By talk," Lily sat down on the edge of her bed. "Do mean _talk_, or do you mean hex?"

"I'm not sure." Alice said.

"They ended up hexing him." Carlee said. "Apparently my sister was there."

"What?" Alice asked.

"Jane, she's a Slytherin."

"Oh. I didn't know you had a sister here. I thought it was only you and Daniel."

"Why did they hex him?" Lily asked.

"Because he's a git." Alice said. "And I told them to."

"_You_ told them to?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't tell McGonagall what he called you."

"That's not how you handle things, Alice."

"Maybe not." She shrugged.

Just then, Mary and Savanna walked into the dormitory. "Lily!" Mary said, laughing. "Did you hear what James and Sirius did?" Lily glared at her.

"I think she has." Savanna said. "Oh come on, Lily. It was kind of funny."

"Funny?" Alice asked. "What happened?"

"They used the Jelly-legs jinx and inflated his head a bit James said he looked like a cartoon character." Mary shrugged. "Just a bit embarrasing for Rabastan."

"Whad did Jane do?" Carlee asked.

"I thought Sirius told you what happened." Alice said

"Not really, he just told me she was there."

"Oh."

"There was someone else there?" Mary asked.

"My sister, Jane."

"I didn't know you had a sister here."

"She's in Slytherin."

"Why did James and Sirius think they needed to do that?" Lily asked, then she pointed at Alice and before she could say anything, added, "It had nothing to do with you, Alice. You probably just encouraged them."

"Because they wanted to." Mary said. "I don't think there is another reason."

oOoOo

About a week later, Lily was getting annoyed with her friends. They hadn't said anything about _why _they were hovering round her all the time now, but she knew. They were afraid to let her out of their sight and, while she appreciated the thought, she could take care of herself. Now that she knew she had to watch her back anyway.

They wouldn't even let her go to the loo alone. It had been a whole _week_ since she had been let out of the hospital wing.

"Are we going to the library after dinner?" Savanna asked, as the girls walked down to the Great Hall. "I need to borrow a book for Ancient Runes if I want to finish this essay on time."

"That's fine." Carlee said. "I need to go to the library as well."

"I don't need to go to the library." Lily said, hoping for some time to herself.

"Me neither." Mary said quickly. "What do you want to do, Lily?"

"I think I'm going to go see Snape." Lily said.

"I'll come too." Mary said, without hesitation.

"You don't need to come. You don't like Snape."

"I don't know him." Mary said, even though it was true. She didn't like him. "And you're such great friends with him, maybe I should give him a chance."

Under normal circumstances, Lily would have loved to hear Mary say that and she would have let her come along in a heartbeat. But under normal circumstances, Mary wouldn't have said anything like that.

"No." Lily said. "I'll go by myself." Carlee and Savanna exchanged worried looks. "Look," She said, as calmly as she could. "I appreciate that you are all taking care of me, but nothing is going to happen. Professor McGonagall took care of everything. You're all worrying about nothing."

"Look at him." Carlee said, casting a furtive glance at the Slytherin table. "Does he look like he's going to leave you alone?" Rabastan had noticed the girls enter the hall and was glaring at Lily. McGonagall had talked to Slughorn and they had agreed that he should have detention every Saturday for a month. He was also expected to help Madam Pince in the Library after classes. He had, thus far, stayed away from Lily though. And she, much like her friends, didn't think that it was going to last.

"No." Lily allowed. "But what can he really do?"

"He did quite a bit of damage last time." Savanna said.

"Yes, but now all of the teachers have their eyes on him. All the students are watching me." She gave a meaningful look to all her friends.

"We're just looking out for you." Carlee said. "Alice kept going on about how your eyes were rolling back in your head, it scared us."

"I fell asleep when she came to get me." Lily said. "Because I hit my head. Look, you two go to the library." She said to Carlee and Savanna. "You go and find Alice after dinner and talk about, whatever you want." She said to Mary. "Let me go and spend some time with my friend in peace."

The girls exchanged a look.

"Alright." Savanna sighed. "But you have to promise to be back in the common room at seven o'clock." She said, sternly. "If you're even a moment late, none of us will leave your side again until winter holidays." Lily rolled her eyes, but agreed.

"I suppose that's fair."

"That's what I was trying for." Savanna said. "But I mean it. Don't be late."

"I won't be."

oOoOo

Severus was acting strangely. Lily first noticed it when they were walking through the courtyard butt had ignored it because sometime Sev could act a bit strangely.

She was starting to think that it was a bit more than that now.

They were walking round the left side of the castle. No one ever went round to this side. Unless it was for Care of Magical Creatures class or they wanted to practice Quidditch and the pitch wasn't available. There were trees scattered round on the right side, getting thicker and thicker until they it met up with the Forbidden Forest and, on the left, there was a large meadow that looked like it went on forever. The Black Lake reached to the side of the castle also, reaching through the trees and looking more like a swamp. Lily could see something that looked like a beaver peaking its head up, but she didn't think that it was a beaver. It was probably some magical creature.

"What are we doing back here?" She asked him.

"Nothing." Sev said, kicking a stone with the tip of his shoe. "I just wanted a change of scenery."

"Oh." She said, biting her lip. "Are you okay?" She knew what had happened. Why he wasn't laughing anymore or even smiling at her. Summer Sev was gone and now she was left with the Sullen School Sev. She liked both of them, but she preferred Summer Sev. He didn't always look indifferent to everything, he laughed and made her laugh. He was gone until the summer holiday though, and Lily had to adjust to Sev's personality change.

"I'm alright." He said, looking a bit alarmed that she had suggested otherwise. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She said slowly. "Are you sure nothing's bothering you?"

"Well, I'm rather upset about what Rabastan did to you." He sighed.

"I know." Lily said. "It's shaken me up a bit, but I wish everyone would just forget about it. My friends finally agreed to let me go off by myself again so I could come and meet you. They haven't left my side all week."

"You shouldn't walk round alone." He said. "He's pretty angry with you still. Potter and Black didn't help at all."

"I can take care of myself, Sev." Lily said. "And I know they didn't. I don't know why they thought they had to do _anything_."

"I didn't say you couldn't take care of yourself." He said. "But Rabastan's angry. It's safer to walk with your friends."

"I know." She sighed. "I'm just feeling a bit babied, I suppose."

Severus turned his head and looked behind them as casually as he could manage. "It's getting late." He said. "I think we should head back inside."

Lily looked down at her wristwatch and nodded. "I promised my jail[-]keepers that I'd be back in the common room by seven."

"Well let's not keep them waiting." A ghost of a grin flickered across his face as they turned around and headed back towards the courtyard. "I'll see you later, Lils." He said when they reached the Entrance Hall.

"Goodnight, Sev."

oOoOo

The bell rang signaling the end of Arithmancy and Lily jumped to her feet, causing her textbook to fall to the floor. James, who had been sitting in the empty seat beside her today, reached down and picked it up for her. He heard Severus's tongue click in annoyance and that made him grin.

"Thank you, Potter." Lily said tersely, taking her Arithmancy book out of his outstretched hands.

"I was just handing you your book. It was no problem."

"I said thank you. Though I could have picked it up myself." She said.

"I know." James said. "I was being nice." Severus snorted.

"You don't know how to be nice." he said.

"I do!" He said.

"No you don't." He said.

"I'm always nice."

"No you're not." Severus said, though James didn't seem to hear him since he had turned his attention back to Lily.

"I'm nice, right?"

"Nice people don't go round hexing other people."

"Are you talking about Rabastan?"

"The fact that you have to ask me who I'm referring to proves that you're not a nice person."

"You are talking about Rabastan." James sighed. "Look, we didn't hurt him-"

"I don't want to hear it." She said. And she didn't, she had had enough of Potter in the last hour, and she was finished. She shoved her book into her bag, spun around and started marching towards the door. Severus had to rush to catch up with her.

"Hold up, Evans." James said, ignoring Severus. "I was trying to help you." He quickly fell into step beside her.

"I never asked you to." She said, without looking at him. "And I'm finished talking to you."

"Then listen," James said hotly. "I don't know why you have such a problem with me, I've never done anything to you but I would have gone after Rabastan whether it was you, Alice or any other girl the prat felt like hexing. I didn't do it because he hexed _you_," He said, knowing that he was lying. "I did it because what he did was wrong."

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but then remembered that she said she had finished talking to him, so she shut it again.

"Why don't you just get lost, Potter?" Severus sneered.

"Okay," James said, putting his hands in the air, still ignoring Severus. "Act like a stubborn prig. See if I care."

"I'm not a prig!" Lily said, turning on him. "And hexing someone for hexing someone else makes you just as bad as them! You're a prig and your logic is-"

"I'm nothing like Rabastan!" James interrupted her. "I didn't _hurt_ him!"

"It doesn't matter!" Lily shouted. "You still hexed him! And the only reason you hexed him was because you felt like playing hero." She said, poking him in the chest.

"I did not!"

"Then why did you take it upon yourself to punish him? You knew that McGonagall had already taken care of it, it was finished and over with, but you decided that you needed to teach him a lesson as well." She pushed her hair back and took a deep breath. "Who do you think you are?"

James stared at her. "I was just _trying _to help."

"Well I didn't ask for your help!" Then she started walking even faster, and James let her leave.

* * *

**AN: So... How did you like it? Do you want to tell me what you thought about it? Because, I know I want you to tell me what you thought. You could definitely drop me a review if you have any questions or if you just want to tell me you like/dislike something. **

**xXSectumsempraXx- You're never logged in when you review, so I can't just pm you. I mean I could but... Anyway, I didn't say anywhere that this year was going to be darker than the last two, but I'm pretty far into the story now, and that's the way it's looking. I'll try and throw in a few pranks here and there to relieve some tension, but it's looking fairly dark. **


	6. Confrontations

**AN: Things to know for this chapter- I don't think there's much preliminary information you need to know. Jane is Carlee's older sister, Rabastan is not very nice, that's pretty much it. **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Confrontations**

One month into the new term, Liza Potter was named Head of the D.M.L.E. The Prophet had run the story on the front page Monday, the first of October and it caused a lot of different reactions.

**Elizabeth Potter, "The Enemy is Out There."**

**By: Glenolden Thornton **

**After a five-month fight to keep hold of his position, George Fawley has been demoted and Elizabeth Potter has replaced him as head of the D.M.L.E. This staff change has made many people within the department very happy. **

"**It's not that we've got a probable with George," Marcus McKinnon, an Auror, said. "He's a very nice man, but I think everyone is just tired of nothing happening. Liza, from what I've heard and what I know about her, is going to take a much more aggressive approach. George didn't do that. I think everyone will start to notice a change."**

**George Fawley was not available for questioning, but Liza Potter and Alastor Moody were gracious enough to lend me five minutes of their time before they headed into a meeting with most of the department's staff.**

"**I've got a lot of work to do, and I have a feeling I'm going to upset a lot of people." She said. "But the wizarding world needs to know that we are not going to continue to sit back and wait to be attacked. We know the enemy is out there and we are going to go and find them."**

"**We're going to do what needs to be done." Moody agreed. "You know I've****wanted her to get the job, and this is probably one of the best things the Minister could have done. We don't need his reform legislation. All we needed was someone who knows how to run our department. We've got that now."**

**This is the first time that the Raiders have ever been referred to as the 'enemy' by any public official****but the small crowed that was gathered nearby, listening to the new heads interview cheered as she said this, because they believe that this is the truth. She went on to say, "The Raiders are attacking innocent people, they are murdering our friends and family, they **_**are**_** the enemy."**

**This is also the first time that anyone in****the Ministry has mentioned any sort of plan to take an offensive approach. Up until now, no one has done anything except in response to an attack. Liza Potter says she is going to look for the Raiders now, before they attack again. **

"**I'm definitely going to sleep better at night," An anonymous man said, when asked how he felt about the new head. "Now that I know that I'm no longer a sitting duck, that the Ministry is actually helping people like me. I feel safer already."**

It was hard for Lily to judge Liza Potter saw 'Potter' and thought of James. She knew Alastor Moody was a very respected wizard, and for him to have so much faith in Liza Potter, well, that must mean something. The Slytherins were all shaking their heads as they read the article,the pro-raider Slytherins were shaking their heads anyhow and that had to mean something too.

Lily leafed through the rest of the Prophet before folding it up and handing it back to Mary

"So?" Savanna asked, after she too had read the article. "Should we be happy about this?" Mary laughed.

"The article talks about how you should be happy about it and you ask for my opinion?"

"The article told us to be happy about Henderson just yesterday." Lily shrugged.

"Yes, you should be happy about it." Mary said. "Mrs. Potter is really good at what she does."

"Have you met her?" Savanna asked.

"A couple of times. The Potters always have Christmas parties and invite all of their friends from the ministry, so my dad gets invited and usually brings me." Mary said, picking up a piece of bacon and biting offthe end. "She's really nice."

"She is." Carlee nodded. "I've met her a few times as well. My dad always thought it was funny that she liked enforcing the law, because he never heard herso much as raise her voice."

"What did your dad do?" Savanna asked carefully. This was one of the first times Carlee was talking about her dad since she'd been back.

"Department of International Magical Cooperation." Carlee said, "It was pretty interesting. He always used to bring back really interestingstuff from other countries." She cleared her throat and looked down at the table. "Anyway, Mrs. Potter will probably do a great job."

"Yes," Mary said. "She will."

oOoOo

Seth told James Tuesday morning that tryouts were going to be the following evening, and since then it was all he could think about. Tuesday had been a long day, but Wednesday was simply excruciating. Sitting through DADA, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures seemed to take longer than usual, and he spent most of the time staring at the clock. Even though he should have been paying attention in Arithmancy because there was going to be anexam on Friday. He _knew_ he should pay attention, but he couldn't. He just kept thinking about Quidditchand how he hadn't been on his broom since before term hadstarted.

It was a welcomed distraction, the tryouts. His mum had been appointed head of the D.M.L.E on Monday and it was all the Prophet was focusing on, her ideas, her plans, how everyone was really excited. He was happy for her, he knew the job was very important to her, but her new position put her in even more danger than her previous job had.

So instead of thinking about that, he focused on Quidditch.

Finally, after Professor Kettleburn had nearly scorched his beard off showing them some blasted animal that shot fire out of one of its many orifices, James was free of lessons for the day. He ran up to the common room, dragging Sirius with him, grabbed his broom and then raced off to the pitch. Seth was already there with Rodger and Edward House, a fifth year beater.

"Hey, Potter!" Edward called. "Look what I've got here!" He held up his broom and James felt his stomach clench up in anticipation. "It's a Cleansweep! The new one!" He said, not bothering to wait until James was near him.

"That's great, Edward." James said, his eyes raking over the broom, taking it all in. "Hey Captain? Are we going to get to fly any time soon?"

"Oh go on, get in the air both of you. Most of the people trying out aren't here yet." Seth said, waving them off.

Edward and James grinned foolishly before jumping ontotheir brooms and shooting off around the pitch. James had missed this. The feeling of the wind in his hair, the Quidditch pitch, the smell of his broom, everything really.

"Race you to the hoops?" Edwardsaid. "Let's put this new broom to the test."

"Alright!" James laughed. "You say when."

"GO!" Edwardshouted, and both boys shot forward. The race lasted for only a moment. Edward passed the hoop a fraction of a second before James did and punched his fist in the air. "Looks like I've got the faster broom now, Potter." He laughed.

"Maybe, but mine's nearly a year old." James reminded him. "Yours should be faster."

They heard Seth blow his whistle and turned round to find that almost half of the stands had been filled. Not all of them were holding brooms of course, but a great number of them were.

"What am I supposed to do?" James heard Seth groan as he touched down a few feet from the captain. "They can't all be in Gryffindor."

"Get rid of them." Rodger muttered. Seth shot him a look that didn't go unnoticed by James and Edward.

"Shut up, Cliff." He muttered. "Don't think I won't make you tryout." Rodger snorted.

"Oi!" Seth shouted to the stands. "IF YOU'RE NOT IN GRYFFINDOR, GET OUT OF HERE!" There was very little movement and a lot of muttering. "NOW!" He shouted. This time many people stood up and trudged their way from the stands. "THE REST OF YOU, IF YOU'RE NOT TRYINGOUT, PLEASE GO TO THE TOP OF THE STANDS." He said, "IF YOU ARE TRYINGOUT, COME TO THE BOTTOM OF THE STANDS."

James laughed when most of the people came down to the front of the stands. Sirius, who had managed to get Peter and Remus to come down with him this year, was among those who went to the top of the stands. James could also see him telling someone off. He saw him mouth the words, "Gryffindor," and "Prat," and figured it was someone who was trying to spy on the team's tryouts from another house.

"You know," James said, leaning over to Edward. "The Slytherin tryouts weren't nearly as hectic as this." Edwards's eyes got wide.

"How did you manage to sneak into the Slytherin tryouts? Especially you? Everyone knows you!"

"I have my ways." James replied omnisciently. "They were actually pretty boring, the tryouts I mean. There were no first years or random Hufflepuffs trying to try out for their team."

"Are they any good this year?"

"Nah," James shook his head. "Lestrange is really disappointed. They got the best of the worst. I almost feel sorry for them, except I don't."

"I know what you mean." Edward nodded. "So, do you think Hufflepuff could beat them?" James laughed.

"They haven't had their tryouts yet, but last year's team could beat them."

"That's good."

"For us."

"That's what I meant."

Tryouts were slow, as always. Seth had them split into groups according to what position they wanted to tryfor. There were many people trying out for the one available chaser position, quite a few for keeper, and a handful for beater. Among those trying out for beaterwas Adam McKinnon. He was a reserve beater that last year's captain had been training with the intention of him being on this year's team. However, Seth had thought it was only fair to give everyone a fair shot, and was making him tryout for the position, since he was never officially on the team.

"Make them fly round the pitch." Rodger said. "Weed out all the people who can't fly."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell me how to run my tryouts." Seth said, icily. "I've been on this team just as long as you have, I know how tryouts are run."

Instead of following Rodger's advice, Seth had the chasers try and catch the Quaffle next, which proved to be almost as helpful as having them fly round the pitch. Half of the prospective chasers couldn't catch the Quaffle, they would drop it or jump out of the way to avoid being hit by it.

"Stop doing that!" Seth yelled. "The Quaffle isn't going to bite you, but if you're afraid of it, I suggest you get off the pitch and stop wasting my time." James snorted derisively at the fourth year boy who, again, jumped away from the Quaffle.

Seth had the keepers have a go with the Quaffle nextand then had the beaters attempt to ward off Quaffles that Edward and James threw at them.

Eventually, he had it down to six chasers, three keepers and four beaters.

"Everyone on their brooms." Seth shouted, mounting his own broom and kicking off the ground. He then instructed the recruits to ride round the pitch so he could gauge their ability to fly.

Edward and James shot back into the sky, racing each other to various points while Seth had his back turned. James caught sight of Rodger shaking his head at them and stopped for Seth's sake. Rodger was already giving Seth a hard enough time without James and Edward acting like twits.

"Rodger needs to learn a little humility." Edward said, coming up next to James. "I mean, he's a good player, but if I were Seth, I'd kick him off the team."

"They're friends." James shrugged. "Rodger is acting like a prat, but he'll come round eventually. I was a bit surprised that he didn't get to be thecaptain, he is really good."

"Yes," Edward said. "But he's too… conceited."

"Conceited? What do you mean?"

"He's big-headed. He knows he's good and he doesn't help others out. He's not really captain material." James cocked his head to the side so Edward continued to explain. "When I was planning on trying out for the team inmy second year, I was down at the pitch every day. I'd practice hitting the Quaffles, and I'd do push-ups trying to build up strength and all that. So I thought it was going to be easy to get on the team, it wasn't. The captain that year was a bit like Emery, only he didn't shout as much. He had all the beaters line up and then let the Bludgers out at us. I made a complete prat of myself." He laughed. "I missed the Bludger and it hit me upside the head, knocked me off my broom and I ended up in the hospital wing for a few days.

"Anyway, some of the team came in to see if I was alright after tryouts and the captain told me that I hadn't made the team, obviously. Then the others, probably noticing how upset I was even though I couldn't really blame anyone for me not making the team, they started trying to console me. Rodger said, "Some people just aren't cut out for the sport." He didn't mean it how it came out I suppose, but it was still like rubbing salt in the wound. Seth though, he said that if I wanted to try out again next year, he would work with me whenever he was available. It would have shocked me if Seth wasn't the captain this year."

James mulled over that as he watched Seth explain to a fourth year girl the correct way to hold her broom while she was diving. "I don't supposeI've never noticed that before." James said. "But you're right."

"I know." Edwards said. "Seth will be a great captain."

oOoOo

Lily was walking to the library with Alice and Carlee. Savanna and Mary had opted out of going with them. Mary said she was going to see if Arianna and Bianca wanted to go watch the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts with herand Savanna was writing home to her family. Carlee and Lily were going to work on their Arithmancy homework and Alice needed somewhere quiet to work on her own homework.

"I'd go to the library alone," She said, when they left the common room. "But I would end up just staring out a window or doodling. If you two are there with me, I'll probably get something done."

"How are you top of your class with an attitude like that?" Carlee laughed.

"I'm not top of my class." Alice said. "Rose Williams is top of my class."

"Well, you're close enough." Carlee shrugged.

The girls reached the fifth floor when they heard a low whistle.

"Look who it is!" A taunting voice called out. "A couple of blood traitors and the snitch."

The girls turned round and saw Rabastan leaning against the wall with Charles Avery and Adam Clovis standing next to him.

Carlee rolled her eyes when she saw them and grabbed the other two girl's arms. "Let's go." She said. "They're not worth it."

"Worth what?" Rabastan said.

"Our time." Carlee called over her shoulder. They started to walk away when a jet of red light shot past them.

"That was a warning." He sneered.

"What kind of warning?" Lily asked, turning back to face him.

"A warning to not turn your backs on us." He said, satisfied that he had their attention again. "I want to have a word with you, snitch."

"We don't want to talk to you." Carlee said, as calmly as she could manage.

"I didn't ask for your opinion." Rabastan said, shooting a glare at her. "I don't know why you bothered to come back to Hogwarts, actually." Lily felt Carlee's grip tighten around her arm.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Alice said.

"What are you going to do about it?" Avery laughed.

"What do you have to say, Lestrange?" Lily said, stopping that line of conversation before someone said something that would make Carlee really upset.

"I warned you not to tell McGonagall, but you didn't listen."

"No," Lily said flatly. "I didn't. Do you know why?" She asked, feeling much braver round him now that she had her friends with her. "Because I'm not going to bend to your threats. I'm not going to cower at the sight of you simply because you _think_ you're superior to me. You're not."

"Watch your mouth." Avery said, taking a step towards the Gryffindors.

"I don't even know why they allow people like you in school." Clovis said. "It's disgusting."

"Shut up, Adam." Carlee snapped. "We're done talking to you, though it was a lovely chat." Then, once again, she tried to turn around and walk away.

"We're not finished talking yet, Baker."

"I'mfinished talking to you." Carlee said. "Alice, Lily, come on." But her pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"You want to threaten Lily again?" Alice asked. "Because that didn't really work out so well for you the last time, did it?" Rabastan pulled his wand back out and aimed it at the girls. Alice didn't waste any time pulling hers out as well and Lily was quick to follow.

"Oh come on!" Carlee sighed. "This is completely unnecessary." Avery and Clovis also pulled out their wands and came up to flank Rabastan.

"It's not unnecessary." Avery snarled. "We have to put you in your place, blood traitor."

"What are you doing?"

All six of them turned and saw Daniel Baker, wearing a slightly amused expression on his face as he walked into the corridor.

"None of your business, Daniel." Avery said. "Unless you want to lend us a wand?"

"I don't think so, but if you continue to point your wand at my sister, I'm going to have to do something about it." Avery flinched, giving him away, but Rabastan just laughed.

"They're three of us, and one of you." He said. "What do you think you'd accomplish?"

"Lower your wands." Daniel said, still speaking calmly and smiling slightly. "Or you'll find out."

"I have no problem with your sister." Rabastan said, lowering his wand for a moment. "She can go." He turned to look at Carlee.

"I've been trying to leave!" She said, throwing her hands in the air. Of the seven people in the corridor, she was the only one without her wand out. "But I can assure you, when I do leave, I'll be taking my friends with me."

"You can take the midget." He said, nodding towards Alice. "I don't have anything against her either."

"Take both of them." Daniel said. "I'll take care of these three."

This time Carlee didn't ask Lily and Alice to follow her. She turned around and started pulling them out of the corridor.

"I said don't turn your backs on us!" Rabastan called out. He started to shout out a hex but was interrupted by Daniel.

"Expelliarmus!" He shouted. Alice tried to look over her shoulder to see what had happened, but Carlee gave another tug on her arm.

"Alright, I'm coming." She said, yanking her arm out of Carlee's grip. "I'm coming."

They continued in silence until they reached the library.

"Why didn't you two listen to me in the first place?" Carlee asked, pausing just outside the library doors. "I told you to walk away as soon as we saw them."

"We can't just let them talk to us like that." Alice said. "Then they'd think it was okay."

"No, if we had just walked away, they would think that they don't bother us." Carlee said. "And then they wouldn't say anything to us in the future."

"I doubt that." Lily said. "I agree with you, we should have left, but their insults aren't going to go away unless I suddenly become a Pure-blood."

"You don't know that." Carlee said. "Unless you act like it bothers you, it's no fun for them."

"How do you know?" Alice asked.

"That's how it works!" Carlee said. "You don't continue to talk to someone if they're completely apathetic towards you. They wanted to get a rise out of us, they wanted us to react. You gave them what they wanted."

"I was standing up for myself." Lily said. "Nothing more." Carlee sighed.

"It was more than that." She said. They were quiet for a minute and then Carlee sighed again. "I suppose I'm over reacting though."

"Just a bit." Alice said.

"Sorry." She said, running a hand through her hair. "Adam's my cousin. I just- I didn't want to talk to him, or see him, or be anywhere near him."

"Why didn't you say so?" Alice said, hitting Carlee on the arm.

"Yes," Lily said, also hitting Carlee's arm. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Ow!" Carlee said, rubbing her arm. "I didn't want to!"

"We would have listened to you." Alice said.

"Well, now I know." Carlee said. She chuckled a bit and shook her head. "Let's just go do some homework, yeah?"

"Okay." Lily said. "But if you're ever uncomfortable again, you tell us. Promise."

"No." Carlee said, a smile on her face. "But if you don't listen to me the next time I tell you to do something, I might hex you."

"Then we'll know it's because you're uncomfortable." Alice said. "As long as we have some sort of code…" The girls laughed and then entered the library.

oOoOo

Severus had never wanted to change anything about Lily. He liked a lot of things about her, her laugh, her smile and the way she didn't seem to care what anyone thought. He didn't mind that she didn't come from a magical family because she hadn't minded that he came from a broken family. The fact that she was a muggle born was simply unlucky in his mind.

She was his first friend, the first person who had given him a chance, despite what other people thought about him. She had gone against what her own sister said about him and hadmade up her own mind. He supposed that was what he liked about Lily most of all. Lily liked him. She had got to know him, spent countless hours with him, and she kept spending time with him, she kept talking to him, and she kept smiling at him.

All of that was still true, of course. Lily was Severus's best friend. She may not be his only friend anymore, but she was still very special to him.

Though now, as he sat in the Slytherin common room listening to Rabastan angrily tell anyone who would listen about the '_filthy Mudblood'_ Severus wanted nothing more than to change her blood status or at least how she acted.

He knew it wasn't fair for him to wish she would behave differently whenever someone like Rabastan was around, but that didn't stop him. Lily was high strung and more stubborn than anyone he had ever met, and it was making his fellow Slytherins very upset with her.

"Who does she think she is?" Rabastan said spitefully. "Running to the teacher. Does she think that's going to save her?"

"Now Rabastan," Severus heard Lucius Malfoy say. "You mustn't get into too much trouble. The Dark Lord doesn't have much use for a wandless wizard."

"I'm not going to get expelled." Rabastan snorted. "But I am going to teach her to keep her mouth shut."

"She's just some stupid Gryffindor." Jane Baker said. "Why are you even wasting your time with her?"

"We all know that's your attitude, Jane." Rabastan laughed. "Just pretend the Gryffindors don't exist, and then you can pretend you're not related to that blood traitor sister of yours."

"I don't know who you're talking about." Jane snapped. "I don't have any sisters in Gryffindor."

"Right," Rabastan laughed. "You know, that's not how you should deal with her."

"Carlee is none of my concern." Jane said with clenched teeth. "And you shouldn't make the redhead, Mudblood any of your concern." Severus wanted to voice his agreement, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

That was basically how his life in the Slytherin house was going so far. He didn't draw attention to himself. He hung round with Avery and Mulciber, but he didn't like to talk much when he was with them. If he talked, they might find out that he wasn't from as pure a family as they currently thought.

His mother was a pureblood. A noble pureblood, at least she had been, before she took the surname 'Snape.' The surname of a muggle man who hated magic. A muggle man who had made Severus's life nothing but difficult and miserable when he was a child. Severus didn't know why his mother had married him, he was an awful man and she did nothing about him when he started shoutingverbal insultsat Severus and he had grown to resent his mother for that.

The Slytherins who he associated with wouldn't take kindly to the fact that his father was a muggle. That would make his life at Hogwarts just as difficult as it had been at home. At Hogwarts, with no one knowing the truth, he felt like he was supposed to be here.

"What are you doing, Snape?" Jane asked, sitting down beside him and looking at the cover of his book. Jane was a year ahead of Severus and she hadn't shown any interest in talking to him before.

"Reading." He said, lifting his book up.

"Why?"

"I'm studying for a potions test." Though Jane didn't seem to care what he was doing or why he was doing it because the next thing that came out of her mouth had nothing to do with books.

"I know you're friends with that Evans girl." She said, having the decency to lower her voice. It was a secret, for the most part. People had seen them with one another and made the assumption that they were friends. Most people though, had a tendency to overlook things that they didn't want to see. The Slytherins didn't want to see one their housemates getting chummy with a Gryffindor. A Muggle born Gryffindor no less.

So, Severus was surprised that Jane had said anything about it because it wasn't something he was normally criticized for. Mulciber had said something once last yearand, since then, Severus had taken to keeping Lily and himselfout of thepublic view. He would always make sure thatthey sat at the back of the library, behind shelves and out of view from most people. When they went on walks, he had them atthe side of the castle, when they ate meals together, it was after almost everyone had left. Lily had asked him out on it once last year, but he had denied it and she had believed him. He was protecting her too, she just wouldn't understand.

"And?" He asked, trying not to let her see how nervous he was.

"She's friends with my sister." Jane said, twitching her nose as she said it. "I don't know why you overlooked her being a Muggle-born, but if she also hangs around with people like Carlee, well, I don't think you should associate with her anymore."

"It's really none of your business." He said, looking back down at his book. "And at least Lily isn't _related_ to people like Carlee." Jane made an odd hissing noise and pushed his book down.

"No, the Mudblood is related to _muggles._" She spit out. "And that's just as bad."

"Thanks for your concern," He said, pulling his book out of her hands and standing up. "But I'll associate with whomsoever I please." Jane gave him a look of utmost loathing and Severus tried to match it, then he turned round and stalked away.

* * *

**AN: So tell me what you think, as always, I enjoy hearing what you have to say. **

**I don't think I'll update again until after Christmas so, until then... Happy Holidays! :)**


	7. Threats and the Loo

**AN: Alright, so I hope everyone had nice holidays. I know I did, I got a John Green book and read it in two days. It was Paper Towns, and it was really good. **

**Anyway... things you should now, Dorcas Meadows had a semi significant part in their first year but she hasn't really come up since then and it's not really important so her and Valerie are just names really in this chapter. Oh and about Rodger and how he's being a jerk to Seth, he hasn't always been like that, James really looked up to him last year as a Quidditch player because he's really good. Nobody's said anything about it but I just wanted to tell you all that. :)**

**Also there was an incident last year where Avery and Snape called Lily a Mudblood in front of Mary and when Mary told Lily she didn't believe her sort of. It comes up, but not in more detail than that. **

**I'm pretty sure that's it so enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Threats and the Loo**

"So, it's up to you two then." Seth said, looking down at the parchment that he had been poring over for the last hour. He was walking up to a desk in the Gryffindor common room where he had left the only other official members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. "I've narrowed it down to Dorcas Meadows and Valerie Pinfield. Who do you think would work with you two the best?"

"You're the captain," Rodger said. "You tell us." He was still in a mood and James didn't know why. Seth and Rodger had gone from annoyed at each other, to angry and neither of them were saying why.

"I'm asking for your input." Seth said, not looking at Rodger. "Who is going to fly well with the two of you?"

"Meadows seemed to be on par." James said.

"I liked Pinfield." Rodger said.

"Oi!" James said, looking over at his teammate. "What are you arguing with me for?"

"Meadows it is." Seth said, circling her name on the parchment. Rodger snorted. "Edward, is McKinnon alright with you?"

"Definitely." Edward nodded. "I spent a lot of time working with him last year, it shouldn't be too hard to get in tune this year."

"Excellent."

"And I'm thinking Jones will be our keeper." Seth said, circling another name on his list. He held it out to inspect it and then nodded his head. "Yes, that's it." He smiled. "We have our team!"

"Great." Rodger said, standing up. "Lions for the cup." He tried to walk away but Seth reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Listen up, mate." He said, sounding neither angry nor annoyed. "I'm keeping Pinfield on reserve, and if you keep this attitude up, I am going to kick you off the team. I'm sorry that I was made captain this year and that you wanted it, but I want to win this year and we're not going to do that if you're too upset with me to keep your head on straight. Do you understand?" Rodger stared at Seth for a minutes, not really believing what he was hearing.

"You're really threatening to kick me off the team?" Seth shrugged.

"I don't want to, I know how much you love Quidditch. But I've got to do what's best for the team. So don't force me to make that decision."

Rodger ripped his arm out of Seth's hand and marched away.

"Okay," Edward said, once Rodger had slammed the dormitory door. "What's going on?"

"He went to McGonagall." Seth sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes.

"What?" James asked. "What did he think she was going to do? She picked you."

"I know." Seth said. "He didn't tell me that he went to see her either. _She_ told me. Said she would find it completely appropriate if I wanted to penalize him in some way. He's not the captain, I am. We haven't even had an official practice yet and he's already trying to undermine me."

"That's low, mate." Edward said, shaking his head.

"That's why I was pissed off with him Wednesday at tryouts. McGonagall had only just told me. I don't know why he thinks he's entitled to act like such a git though."

"He'll get over it." James sighed. "And if not, I'm a good enough chaser to make up for having two new ones." Seth laughed and shoved James' shoulder.

"Don't start giving me any ideas, Potter." He said. "Anyway, we're going to have our first practice tomorrow, no reserves. Just the seven of us. We'll get a feel for each other and see if I do have to replace Rodger." He sighed. "And I really don't want to do that."

oOoOo

Alice had locked herself in a bathroom cubicle and was trying her hardest not to cry. Her eyes were stinging and her nose was running but she refused to allow the tears to actually fall. This was not how she wanted to spend her Saturday afternoon.

She had nearly lost all her patience with Clair and her angry slurs. She knew that she shouldn't let them get to her, she knew that they had no merit behind them and for some reason Clair had simply decided that she didn't like Alice but it was getting a bit ridiculous. After all, Clair and Alice were in the same house and year, they shared a dorm, had all the same classes and Clair wouldn't leave her be. All the other girls in her year wouldn't stand up to her either, for fear of having Clair's taunts directed at them so Alice felt completely alone.

She felt silly as well, she shouldn't be letting Clair hurt her like this. She shouldn't have to keep pretending she wasn't upset when she was with her friends either. She should tell them, especially Mary, what was going on and let them help her. They would, she knew that, but she felt like she should be able to manage this on her own.

So she took a deep calming breath and pushed her bushier-than-usual brown curls from her face and then opened the cubicle door. She walked over to the mirror, turned on the tap and splashed some cool water on her face, hoping to make the red splotches on her cheeks less noticeable. She kept this up until she thought she looked normal again and then walked over to the door. She was just about to step out into the corridor when she heard voices outside the door.

Normally she wouldn't have stopped to listen but she recognized one of the voices and they sounded so intense that she didn't feel right interrupting them. And she couldn't really help but hear what they were saying, they were, after all, standing right outside.

"I don't know where your head is sometimes." Someone said, sounding very annoyed. "You say one thing but then I see you running around with that Mudblood and I don't know what to think."

"Honestly, Avery?" Severus said in a bored tone. Alice didn't know Snape very well, but she could picture the look of disdain he was giving Avery. "I only talk to her because I've known her since we were children." He said, there was an edge to his voice, but it was barely detectable.

"Okay, and I get that, to some extent." Avery said. "You didn't know any better because you lived in the _muggle_ world." He said that word in such a way that made Alice want to hex him. With such disgust, that it set her teeth on edge. There was nothing wrong with the muggle world.

"I can't just stop talking to her." Severus pressed. "It's unfortunate that she's not a _proper_ witch, but we're friends. We were friends before I knew the difference."

"I wouldn't let anyone else hear you saying things like that." Avery sighed. "But I suppose, as long as she doesn't get in the way, your friendship with her isn't that big of a problem." He sighed again. "I don't know why you would _want_ to be friends with her…"

"That's really none of your business either."

"Right, well, don't make this a problem." Avery said. "Or it will become my business."

"I don't get why Rabastan thinks he has to do anything."

"You're only saying that because she's your _friend._" He sneered. "If it was some other Muggle born, then you would be on board."

"Not necessarily. I don't really have any desire to be involved in anything that could get me expelled."

"He's not going to take it that far," Avery laughed. "Though he is rather thick. Okay, his brother won't let him take it that far."

"I know." Severus said. "Let's go, before someone sees us standing round outside the girl's loos."

Alice heard footsteps walking away down the corridor and she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. All thoughts of Clair stupid Pitchfield had been momentarily tossed aside because now she had to work out what, in the name of Merlin, Snape and Avery had been talking about.

They had been talking about Lily. That she was sure of, unless there was some other Muggle born girl that Snape was hanging around with, although she didn't think that was the case. And what had they meant about Rabastan? What was he planning on doing to Lily? It was no secret that he was angry with Lily for turning him in to McGonagall, twice now, but Snape hadn't sounded exactly thrilled about whatever the plan was, and that made Alice's stomach churn.

She knew she had to tell Lily but she didn't want to. She didn't want to tell her what Snape and Avery had said. She didn't want to be the one to destroy Lily's illusion of her childhood friend. She couldn't _not_ tell her though. He hadn't even tried to get Avery to go against whatever Rabastan's plan was, he didn't stick up for her when Avery called her the M-word. Alice couldn't just ignore all that.

But she didn't have to tell Lily first. She could tell Mary, Savanna and Carlee. They would know better than her, how to tell Lily.

She pushed the door open, looked down the corridor, just to make sure that Snape and Avery were out of sight, and then started for the Gryffindor common room.

Her heart was hammering in her chest and she felt her palms start to get clammy. She didn't understand why Lily was friends with Snape. She didn't normally judge people without getting to know them first but, after what she's heard him say just now and after what Mary had heard him say last year, Alice didn't think she needed to get to know him. He wasn't a good friend if he talked about Lily like this behind her back.

"Alice!" Alice turned her head and saw Felicity McKinnon running towards her. Her face was a bit flushed.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"It's Clair." Felicity said, as usual she didn't waste any time with a preamble. "I heard what she was saying about you earlier. You should go to a teacher or something, it's not right."

"I know it's not, but I couldn't care less about Clair right now." Alice sighed. "I've got Slytherin prats to deal with." Felicity opened her mouth to ask but Alice shook her head. "I'll tell you later, but I've really got to go."

"You want to go to the library later?"

"Okay, I'll meet you there after dinner."

"Okay," She started walking away but then paused. "You're sure you're alright?"

"I'm sure." Alice lied. "I'll see you later."

Felicity left the corridor and Alice continued her trek up to the Gryffindor tower. She usually hated that their common room was so far away from everything else, but now, when she was dreading the conversation she was going to have once she reached the common room, it seemed to be too close. The walk took her nearly ten minutes, and she used every second of it to try and organize her thoughts and to sort out what she was going to tell her friends.

She gave the Fat Lady the password and walked in, feeling as if her feet were suddenly blocks of concrete. She spotted Mary and Carlee sitting near the fire. They were throwing bits of parchment into it and cheering quietly. Alice recognized it as a game they had made up a couple weeks ago. She walked over to them and dropped down onto the couch in between them.

"What's the problem?" Mary asked, scooting down the couch a bit so Alice could have some room.

"I don't know what to do." Alice said.

"About what?" Carlee asked, tossing her last parchment ball into the fire.

Alice looked between her friends and then at the flames. She opened her mouth and then closed it. "I might be making more out of this than I should be." She said, even though she knew she wasn't. She told them everything she had heard, and when she had finished with her story she added, "I know I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but I really couldn't help it."

"That's the last thing you should be worried about right now." Mary said. "What do those snakes think they're going to do to Lily?"

"They didn't say." Alice said. "I told you everything I know."

"She's just thinking aloud." Carlee said, putting a hand on Alice's shoulder. They were quiet for a minute, all three of them looking into the fire, lost in their own thoughts. "We're going to have to tell Lily." Carlee finally said. "I mean, Snape could have already told her, but we still have to tell her."

"Snape didn't tell her." Mary said. "And I don't know if she'll believe us."

"Why wouldn't she?" Carlee said. "We wouldn't make this up."

"Lily's weird about Snape." Mary sighed. "Last year he called her a Mudblood, not to her face, but I heard him say it and I told her. She said I must have misheard him." Carlee bit her lip and started playing with the hem of her sweater.

"We still have to tell her." Carlee said.

"I know." Alice sighed, "But I don't know how."

"We can tell her together." Mary said.

"Maybe not all of us." Carlee said. "We don't want her to feel like we're ganging up on her."

"Okay, I'll go with Alice than." Mary looked round the common room. "Where is Lily anyway?"

"At the Library with Arianna." Carlee said. "I should be with them but I don't feel like doing homework right now."

"Let's wait till she gets back." Alice said. "I really don't want to have to do this."

"Okay." Mary said. She then leapt up off the couch and twirled round to face them. "I'm going to go get a snack from Savanna's trunk. She has homemade biscuits and toffee. Do you two want some?"

"Sure." Carlee said.

"You can't just go through her things." Alice said.

"She's up in the dormitory now." Mary shrugged. "I can ask her before I take them, though she doesn't mind anyway."

"If you ask, I would like some toffee. I need something sweet to cheer me up."

Carlee put her arm around her shoulders. "Is something else bothering you?"

"Nah, I'm fine." She lied, letting her head drop onto Carlee's shoulder. "I just don't want to tell Lily."

"It's the right thing to do though." Carlee said.

"I know." Alice sighed. "That doesn't mean it's going to be easy."

oOoOo

Remus was staring at the noticeboard looking at the sign that announced that there was going to be a Hogsmeade trip at the end of the month. He was quite excited about going to Hogsmeade. Hogsmeade was one of the only towns in the entire world that was completely magical, both shops and occupants. Remus had never been there before so he was excited at the prospect of getting a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, looking around Zonko's joke shop and even more excited at the thought of getting some of Honeyduke's famous chocolate.

Peter came up and sat down in the armchair next to him. "That'll be fun, yeah?" He asked, following Remus's gaze at the notice board. "Ian and Orion are planning on touching the Shrieking Shack's door. You know, it's one of the most haunted building in Britain."

Remus sighed and looked over at Peter. "It's not really haunted, Peter." He said. "That's just something that Dumbledore told everyone in town."

"Why would he tell them that?"

"That's where I go to transform." Remus whispered. "That's where I go during the full moon."

"Oh." Peter said. He cleared his throat and did his best to look natural, Remus appreciated the effort. "So there's no ghosts in it?"

"Not that I'm aware of." He shrugged. "Though, there are ghosts in Hogwarts and the castle's not considered haunted."

"That's true." Peter nodded, still a bit uneasy. "Did you hear about Stephen?" He asked, changing the subject. "He's got a date for the trip."

"What?" Remus asked, mildly surprised that their unpleasant roommate was able to get himself a date and why he would want one. "Who?"

"Her name's Delilah O'Brien." Peter said. "She's sitting over there." He pointed to a small group of girls on the other side of the room.

"I think it's kind of ridiculous." Remus said. "To go with a date I mean. We're only third years."

"Hear hear." Sirius said, walking up beside his two friends. "Stephen's an idiot. And so is Delilah for that matter."

"Where's James?" Peter asked.

"Quidditch practice." Sirius said. "I sneaked away as soon as he wasn't looking. Don't know why he thinks I enjoy sitting up in the stands watching. It's bloody cold out. I'll head back out in an hour or so and he won't even know I was gone."

"You think James'll ask anyone?" Peter asked.

"No." Sirius said. "James isn't going to ask anyone. Why would he do that?" Sirius asked, Peter shrugged. "Nah, but I think he'll help me convince Stephen he's not as brilliant as he seems to think he is." He said, looking across the room as Stephen walked down the stairs. He had a spring in his step and a smug smile on his face. "Between the two of us, I'm sure we'll be able to find a way to wipe that smile off his face."

"That sounds like fun." Peter said.

"That sounds like trouble." Remus said. "We do have to live with Stephen, remember?"

"Yes, but he's an unbearable berk already, he can't get much worse." Sirius shrugged. "Besides, if I don't do something, I'll end up hitting him. He looks too smug. He doesn't even have any reason to be smug."

"I know." Peter said. "Why's would he want a date anyway?"

oOoOo

Lily was walking back to the common room with Arianna. The latter had said that she was worried about walking back alone, as in just the two of them. They were, after all, both Muggle born. Lily knew that Arianna wouldn't have been so worried about it if there weren't rumors going round the school saying that Rabastan had it in for Lily. The rumors were grossly exaggerated, but Lily couldn't blame her for being nervous.

"Nothing's going to happen." Lily said, for the fifth time, as the two girls reached the Gryffindor tower. She was trying to keep up with Arianna and put her books into her bag. She had spent the last five minutes of the walk testing Arianna on chapter three of their Arithmancy book, but both girls had had about enough of the subject for today. "Look, we're almost there."

"Why are you not more worried about this?" Arianna asked. "Don't you know what people are saying he did?" Lily shoved her quills aside to make room for the book.

"I don't really need to listen to secondhand accounts of what happened, I was there." Lily said, taking out a bottle of ink so that she could get her notes in without wrinkling them. "And it's nothing to get worried about."

"He put you into the hospital wing!"

"Arianna," Lily sighed. She stopped walking and looked at her roommate. "He hit me with a knock-back jinx, I fell and hit my head. I had a concussion, that's why I was in the hospital." She started walking again and continued to try and fit everything into her bag.

"Oh." She said. "Still, he jinxed you."

"Yes," Lily allowed. "But it wasn't anything too bad, because honestly, what's he going to do while we're at school? Especially now, when everyone would know that it was him."

"You're right." Arianna said. "Of course you're right. I'm just- I don't know. He wouldn't have done it if you weren't a Muggle-born. So it could have been me."

"I suppose so." Lily said. She shoved her hand into her bag and pushed her things around. "Arianna? Have you seen my notebook? The blue one we were using to test each other. I can't find it."

"I haven't seen it since this afternoon." Arianna said. "Here, let me check my bag. I might have put it in there by mistake." She dug through her bag and then shook her head. "I don't see it. You must have left it in the library."

Lily nodded and they walked the rest of the way in silence. As Lily had promised, Rabastan did _not_ jump out from behind any tapestries or suits of armor and they both made it to the common room in one piece.

"I'll see you in the morning, Lily." Arianna said. "I'm going to go up and work on my Transfiguration essay for a while, so that maybe I can do something more amusing tomorrow."

"I'll see you later." Lily nodded. She looked round the common room and spotted her friends sitting in front of the fireplace.

"Hullo, Lily. How was your day of studying?" Carlee asked, taking Lily's bag from her and putting it next to her own on the floor.

"It was… productive." Lily smiled, taking a tin from Mary and selecting a strawberry flavored toffee.

"It's still an awful way to spend your Saturday." Mary said, taking the tin back. "You should save all your weekend homework till Sunday, like the rest of us." Lily laughed.

"Some of us have too much homework to save it all for Sunday." Savanna said, marking her page in her Ancient Runes book and setting it on her lap. "Because some of us aren't just taking the bare minimum number of classes."

"Carlee's taking Arithmancy and she didn't spend all day doing homework." Mary pointed out.

"Don't bring me into this." Carlee laughed.

"You're awfully quiet." Lily said, poking Alice's knee. "Something wrong?"

The atmosphere changed suddenly and Lily looked round at all her friends, none of them would meet her eye.

"Lily," Alice said quietly, looking up at her friend. "Has Snape told you anything about Rabastan lately?"

"What?" Lily asked, trying to smile. Though with the look Alice was giving her, it was getting harder and harder to keep it from turning into a frown. "What would he have to tell me about Rabastan?"

Alice started chewing on her bottom lip and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I was in the loo earlier today," She said, looking down at the tips of her shoes. "And as I was leaving, I heard some people talking out in the corridor. I didn't mean to overhear them, but they were talking about you." Alice said. "It was Snape and someone named Avery, I think he's a third year too."

"Okay, what does that have to do with Rabastan?" Lily said, but she really didn't want to know. She really just wanted Alice to stop talking. She didn't want her friends to look at her like they were.

"Lily," Alice said. "They were talking about how Rabastan has some sort of plan. And the plan has something to do with you."

"Well I haven't seen Sev all day." Lily said, breathing a sigh of relief. That was what Alice was so worked up over? Some stupid plan that Rabastan had because he thought he had to put her in her place. "And why are you all so worked up over this? It's not that big a deal. Rabastan's being thick, what's new?"

"That's not all they said." Alice said, looking over at Mary for help. But Mary pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Thanks." Alice muttered before turning her head back towards Lily. "He- well Snape that is, he said that- He said the-"

"Spit it out, Alice." Lily said.

"He said the only reason he talks to you is because he's known you since you were kids." Alice mumbled quickly. "And he said that you weren't a 'proper' witch."

Lily looked back and forth between her friends and she realized that that was all they had to say. She closed her eyes and tried to process this information as quickly as she could so she could explain it to her friends, so that they would stop looking at her with those pitying expressions.

But how did she turn that into something that didn't sound bad? If Alice was telling the truth, and the odds were that she was since she had no reason to lie, then that meant that Sev had said some pretty bad stuff about her. What did he mean she wasn't a proper witch? And why would he tell Avery that he only _talks_ to her because they were friends as kids? Making it sound like he was only putting up with her.

"He had to say those things." Lily said, she didn't really know where she was going with that, but it sounded good enough to her.

"What?" Carlee asked, looking at Lily as though she had lost her head. "Why would he _have_ to say something like that?"

"Because Avery is friends with Rabastan." Lily said. "Avery believes in 'blood purity' and all that. He was with Rabastan the other day in the corridor," She said, meeting Carlee's gaze. "You heard what he said."

"Yes," Carlee nodded. "But Snape is your friend, isn't he?"

"Yes-"

"Then he shouldn't have said that. He should have stuck up for you." I know that, Lily thought.

"You don't understand." Lily said, her voice louder and more forceful than before. "If he hadn't gone along with Avery, he would have made life difficult for him. He has to live in the same room as him." She stood up and grabbed her bag. "Besides, I don't mind that he said those things, I know they aren't true. Thank you for telling me, Alice, but you're right, you shouldn't have been eavesdropping. You probably didn't catch the whole conversation and you just heard a part that made it sound worse than it actually was. Sev's my friend, I wish you would all just stop trying to find something wrong with him." She turned on her heel and marched towards the stairs, before she was out of earshot, she heard Mary mutter, "I told you she would react like that." She almost turned round to shout at Mary, to tell her that she didn't know what she was talking about, but then she remembered _why_ Mary knew she'd get upset. She took the steps two at a time and rushed up to her room, throwing herself onto her bed and shutting her hangings as soon as she got there. This year was turning out to be a nightmare.

* * *

**AN: And there you have it. Some Sev/Lily drama to come because how can I avoid it at this point? Tell me what you thought of the chapter by leaving me a review I really do enjoy them and take what you guys say into consideration. Please and Thank you! :)**


	8. The Badge

**AN: Okay, I just read through this all again and I'm sorry to say that it's mostly just the potatoes of the meal. The next few chapters are definitely a hearty serving of meat, but I have to build up to that and I did that with this chapter. So I hope you don't mind and enjoy it any way. I don't think that I need to tell you anything for this chapter, just go ahead and read it. :)**

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**Chapter Eight: The Badge**

Lily had decided that it didn't matter what Sev had said. Not just for her friends' sake, so that when they asked her about it she could tell them it didn't matter, but she had decided that it _actually_ didn't matter. He was in a different house, and he had told her last year that the dynamics of the Slytherin house was different from Gryffindor's. Things worked differently in the dungeons and, if he had to lie about their friendship to keep some prats off his back, she could understand that. She would never do it but she understood. Sev wasn't like her, he wasn't as outspoken or, well, brave. He hid in the shadows and tried not to attract a lot of attention, Lily didn't mind attention. Lily did what was right, even if it was hard. Severus almost always did what was easiest, even if it was wrong.

They were friends though and Lily had to respect his differences. She had to understand that he didn't have friends in his house like Mary who would jump up to defend him at the drop of a hat. He didn't have someone like Savanna who was always there for him to talk to. He didn't have an Alice to make sure nobody said anything behind his back without him knowing about it, nor did he have a Carlee who was a good voice of reason.

At least, that's what Lily had convinced herself before she headed to Arithmancy on Wednesday. She had acted a bit brashly towards him earlier that week, but she had tried to keep things normal because she really didn't want him to know that something might be wrong.

Today though, things were not wrong at all. Things were right. Though he still did have to warn her about Rabastan, if he didn't then things wouldn't be all right. If he didn't, _then_ she could be angry.

She sat down beside him and pulled out some parchment. "Good morning, Sev." She said cheerfully, smiling widely at him.

"Morning, Lily." He said, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. "You're in a good mood."

"Yes I am." She said. Professor Vector walked in and slashed his wand through the air, the large blackboard began to fill with equations and formulas so Lily started to dip her quill in her ink before realizing that she hadn't got it out yet. She reached into her bag and dug through the contents, but all three of her inkbottles were gone. She thought it was strange, but didn't think too much about it. Mary probably had borrowed them or something. "Sev," She whispered. "Can I use your ink?"

"Of course." He said. Lily saw that he was frowning and crinkled her brow. He wasn't upset with her because she had asked him to share, was he? That didn't seem like him. He slid his inkwell over and put it directly in between them. Lily dipped her quill in and continued to watch Severus scowl down at his notes.

"Is something wrong?" She whispered, leaning over towards him slightly. They were sitting in the front row, so she had to be careful if she didn't want to get caught.

"No. Nothing's wrong." He said, not looking up from his notes. Lily had to fight the urge to look over at Carlee, fearing that she would somehow know that something was wrong already and be giving her an, "I told you so" look.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked. Sev nodded. Lily didn't push it anymore because the professor had stopped right in front of her desk and was explaining something. She began scribbling away at her notes, pushing Sev's odd behavior to the back of her mind.

oOoOo

"Where's Remus?" Savanna asked loudly, marching up to the Marauders (sans Remus of course) with her hands on her hips. "He wasn't in Ancient Runes today and I had Donna Tyler as a partner! Donna Tyler is as thick as a plank. We only got half way through our work and then she gave up completely, deciding it was a good time to tell me about how unfair her roommates were being about sharing the loo! I had to try to do it all by myself_ and_ I had her chewing my ear off the whole time. This is his bloody fault! We're usually partnered."

"Calm down, House." James said, running a hand through his hair and trying to look behind her. "Remus had to go home."

"Why?" Savanna asked, keen on staying in James' line of vision.

"His mum's sick," Sirius snapped. "He couldn't help who you were partnered with in Ancient Runes." Savanna's face fell.

"Though I'm sure _that's_ what he's so upset about, that he couldn't be your partner today in class." James said, shaking his head. "Now will you move?"

"I didn't know." Savanna said quickly. "I just thought you two made him skip class or something."

"Well we didn't." Sirius said, reaching out and moving her to the side.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, you didn't know." Sirius shrugged, looking into the distance, as were James and Peter.

"What are you three doing?" She asked, trying to see whatever it was they were looking at.

"Nothing." James said, Peter let out a chuckle and Savanna narrowed her eyes.

"Why don't you run along now?" Sirius added, a smile forming on his lips.

"Don't tell me what to do." Savanna said. "I'm waiting for my friends." They didn't say anything. "Remus is going to be alright, right?"

"He'll be fine, House. It's his mum that's sick, not him." Sirius said, his eyes snapping to hers. "Now be quiet."

Savanna huffed but didn't say anything more.

"Lupin's gone?" Someone asked, coming up behind the group. Sirius and James turned their heads and saw Lily and Severus had joined them outside the doors of the Great Hall. "He's always disappearing, isn't he?"

"That's none of your business, Snape." James said, narrowing his eyes.

"His mum is ill." Peter said, kicking James in the shin. "He'll be back tomorrow."

"It's odd how he gets to go and visit her in the middle of the week." Severus added, noticing that it bothered James. "Couldn't he wait until the weekend?"

"If he could," Sirius said. "I think he would. He doesn't like missing class."

"Unlike some of his friends." Severus said, his lips curling.

"Don't, Sev." Lily whispered.

"James! Sirius!" Peter said excitedly. "Look!"

Everyone turned to see Stephen walk down the stairs, Bianca O'Brian was with him and they were talking to each other. He was half way down the staircase when there was a small pop on the step he was standing on. There was a muffled 'poof' and then green smoke clouded around both Stephen and Bianca. They both started coughing and trying to wave the smoke away but it wouldn't move. Everyone round them rushed away before the smoke could engulf them as well. Stephen and Bianca tried to run out of the green cloud, but it followed them.

James, Sirius and Peter started laughing hysterically as Stephen realized that it was a dung bomb that had gone off, and it had been charmed to stay round him. He pinched his nose and started coughing harder. Bianca was shouting for someone to help her.

"You three did this, didn't you?" Lily asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"It's just a laugh, Evans." James said, still not able to stop laughing.

"It's pathetic, Potter." Severus said.

"No one asked for your opinion." James laughed.

"You can't treat people like this." Lily said. "What did Bianca or Stephen ever do to you?"

"Stephen's a git." James said. "And if Bianca thinks it's a good idea to go out with him, well, she got what she deserved." He motioned over to the two Gryffindors wheezing as the green cloud refused to dissipate.

"Oi!" Sirius called out. "Stephen, you alright mate?"

"Black! Potter!" Stephen called back. "I'll get you back for this!"

"We'll be waiting." Sirius laughed.

"But don't be starting something you can't finish." James shouted.

"You started this!" Lily said.

"Oh yeah." James shrugged. "Ah well." Then he turned on his heel and walked into the Great Hall, Sirius and Peter following him.

oOoOo

Thursday's Morning edition of the Daily Prophet was late. Not too late, but it still came at the end of breakfast, and some people had already gone to the common rooms to get their books for their first lessons, but most people were still in the Great Hall.

The first person to see the front page was Octavius Pepper, a sixth year Hufflepuff. He let out a loud, strangled noise that caused most people to look over at him. When they did look, they saw that his face had split into a magnificent smile.

Soon the entire room had read the headlines on the front page and everyone was cheering, almost everyone anyway.

**Aurors Capture a Raider**

**By: Glenolden Thornton **

**After following a lead that Aurors have been working out for month, their efforts finally paid off. Early this morning Aurors Harriet Deutch, John Dearborn and Marcus McKinnon, all looking very tired, walked into the ministry towing Alfie Dutton in their wake. **

**Dutton is currently being held up in the Auror office under constant security and will be questioned for more information regarding the Raiders. **

**Auror McKinnon said that they should have been able to get at least one other Raider, but he's not going to dwell on that and he's going to stay positive and hopes the rest of us do as well. **

**More information on how Alfie Dutton was captured will be released at a later date. For now, just be happy that the ministry is making ground and bringing the enemy to justice. **

James stared at the page in shock. He couldn't believe it. Two years after these attacks started and they had finally captured a Raider. It was beginning to feel like they were ghosts or smoke. Impossible to catch and able to do whatever they wanted. They had almost forced a professor to kill Dumbledore last year. And they had killed the Minister of Magic as well. They would show up, kill whoever they wanted, take whatever they wanted and then disappear before anyone could do anything to stop them.

Not anymore though. He didn't know if his mum, being the head of the department, had been the reason that this Dutton character was now in ministry custody, but he knew that she was going to get some of the credit for it, and that made him nervous more than anything.

He knew that it would be good for her job, to have a Raider captured only a week after she had become the head of the D.M.L.E looked wonderful for her, but James was thinking of how it looked from the other side. From the Raiders' point of view, she was a target, she was a threat, she was someone they had to get out of the way. The thought of his mum being hunted down by Raiders made James' whole body freeze.

In the room full of cheering people, he felt very vulnerable. Something could happen to her, it had become more likely that something was going to happen to her. He wanted her to continue to catch the Raiders of course, he wanted all the Raiders to be brought to justice and put into Azkaban for their murders and other crimes, but he didn't necessarily want his mother to be responsible for it. He wanted her to be safe.

"This is brilliant." Peter said, reading the article over Sirius's shoulder. "They caught one."

"It is brilliant." Sirius agreed. "And there wasn't even an attack, they just caught him."

James nodded. "It's good."

"Good?" Sirius asked. "Are you joking? This is excellent. They've caught one, now they know that they can! Just watch, they'll have another five before the end of the month."

"I hope so." Peter said. "I don't know how much more of the Raiders we could take."

"You don't think everyone will give my mum the credit, do you?" James asked, shoving the paper into his bag. "I mean, it was the whole department's efforts, right?"

"She won't get _all_ the credit." Sirius said. "I mean, the three Aurors that actually caught him are going to get most of the credit, aren't they?"

"I suppose so." James said.

"What are you so miserable about?" Peter said, nudging James arm. "This is a really good thing."

"We caught one." James said. "There are still a lot out there, and what if they think it's my mum's fault that one of them is in custody now? What if they go after her?"

Sirius and Peter looked at each other. "That's not going to happen." Peter said. "And even if it does, she's going to be alright, James. She's got the entire Auror department round her."

"That didn't help Turnbull much." James muttered. "He was the Minister of Magic, he had security all round him and he was still murdered. In his office no less."

"Turnbull was an idiot though." Sirius said. "He didn't know his wand from his shoe."

"He was a good wizard." James sighed. "I'm going to head off to class. I'll see you two later."

James jumped off the bench and stalked out of the Great Hall keeping his eyes trained on the floor. He pretended he didn't hear Peter and Sirius call after him.

The walk to the Defense classroom wasn't a long one, it took him less than two minutes since it was only one floor up. He was the first to arrive and took his usual seat at the back of the room. He was there for about a minute, thinking about things he wished he could ignore and imagining scenarios he hoped would never happen, when he heard someone walk in through the open door.

"James Potter? Early for class?" Professor Jewell chuckled lightly as she entered the room. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"I'm not always late." James snapped. Professor Jewell raised an eyebrow at him and then walked at a leisurely place to the front of the room and took a seat behind her desk.

"Any particular reason you're in such a foul mood? From my understanding your mother's department has just made their first capture, and in her first week on the job too. Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

"No." James said. She gave him a look and he felt sheepish. "No, Professor."

"Can I make the assumption that you don't want the Raiders to be captured then?"

"No!" James said, pounding his fist on the table. "Of course I do! They kill people, and then they just walk away! I don't want people like that walking round free."

"Of course not." Professor Jewell said, smiling slightly. "Then, what's the problem?"

"I just wish-" He paused, suddenly aware of how selfish he was being. He didn't want his mum to be the reason the Raiders were being captured because it made her a target. He would be perfectly content with someone else's mum taking her place though. No matter who was the head of the D.M.L.E, they were going to be targeted, at least his mum was getting stuff done. So instead of saying that he wished his mum wouldn't get all the credit for the recent and all future captures of the Raiders, he said, "I just wish there was a way that my mum's safety could be…"

"Guaranteed?" Professor Jewell provided, James nodded. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?" She tucked a strand of her white hair behind her ear and smiled at him. "You know, I still remember getting my letter when I was a little girl. My parents were so surprised, my being a witch wasn't even something that they had thought of. I'm a Muggle-born you see." She said. "I think I always knew, not about the wizarding world of course, I was actually foolish enough to believe that I was the only one who could do magic." She chuckled at herself. "I think my being a Muggle-born is what got me this job actually. These castle walls are good at providing safety, and Dumbledore and I are old friends." She looked up at James. "I am qualified, and there weren't too many other takers for the position, but I think your Headmaster likes to think he can guarantee people's safety. He also wants to prove that Muggle-borns are just as competent as any other witch or wizard."

James didn't really know why she was telling him all this, but he just nodded politely and listened.

"I got side-tracked a bit," She said, laughing to herself. "I was going to say that I for one am very thankful for your mother. If it wasn't for brave witches and wizards like her, I wouldn't have ever got my letter."

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"The Raiders wish to make it impossible for Muggle-born students to come to Hogwarts. Or to own a wand."

"They can't do that!"

"Not as long as people like your mother are in charge."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." James said. "I mean, I'm glad you got to go to Hogwarts, and I'm glad Muggle-borns still get to go to Hogwarts, but my mum could still be in danger."

"I know." She sighed. "And that's hard for you to handle, especially when you're so far from your mum with such limited contact. You just have to remember that this life that we are living now, this constant fear of death and murder, this isn't permanent. We aren't going to live like this forever. You have to remember that the more Raiders your mum puts in Azkaban, then the fewer Raiders there are on the streets and the safer our world gets." She saw the look on his face and added. "It'll get easier, James. You just have to put on a brave face for a while."

"What if something happens to her?" He asked. "She's my mum, I don't know what I'd do if- Well, you know."

"All we can do is pray for her safety." She said. James was about to argue again, but Snape and Rosier walked in and took their seats and they were two of the last people he wanted to overhear his worries about his mum.

oOoOo

It looked as though Sirius was going to be right with his prediction. By the end of the following week, three more Raiders had been caught and, as of yet, there hadn't been any sort of retaliation.

Lily was feeling great about the recent events, which was unusual since the Raiders had been killing and kidnapping since she started Hogwarts. Nothing really good had happened either. This was the first time everyone seemed to be happy with the wizarding world.

She was practically skipping down the halls on Friday afternoon, on her way to the library with Carlee and Savanna.

"It's such a nice day out, isn't it?" Lily asked, smiling out a window. It was a particularly cloudy day and it looked like it was going to rain soon.

"No." Carlee laughed. "It's not a nice day, not weather wise anyhow." Lily shrugged.

"Hey, Lily?" Savanna said, grabbing Lily's bag and brining it closer to her face. "Where's the badge you usually keep on the front of your bag?"

Lily looked down and saw that her _Beatles' _badge was missing. "Oh," She sighed. "It must have fallen off."

"You seem to be losing a lot of your things lately, Lils." Carlee said. "Your Arithmancy notebook, all your inkbottles, your Astronomy textbook, your Herbology notes, your badge." She listed them off.

"That is rather odd, isn't it?" Lily asked. "I haven't really thought about it, I suppose."

"It's all happened in the last two weeks too." Savanna said. "It's sort of strange."

"I was thinking more along the lines of suspicious." Carlee said. Lily laughed.

"Do you think someone is stealing my Herbology notes?" She asked. "I'm sure I'm just being careless. I'll have to keep a better eye on my things, that's all." Carlee shrugged as they walked into the library.

"Where do you want to sit?" Savanna asked. It being a Friday afternoon, not many students were in the Library, a few dedicated Ravenclaws, a handful of harebrained N.E.W.T students and then a random assortment of others.

"Somewhere we can't see the window." Carlee giggled. "I don't think Lily would get anything done if she could admire the fine weather we're having." Savanna laughed as well and they made their way back to a corner of the library, where there weren't any windows.

"What shall we work on first?" Lily said, pulling out her textbooks and reading the bindings. "Charms, DADA, Transfiguration… Let's work on Charms. I like Charms."

"Alright." Savanna said. "We get to use magic for Charms."

"The Shrinking charm is tricky." Carlee said, pulling out a broken quill to practice on. "I can get it to shrink, but it never stays shrunk for very long."

"Mine stays." Lily said. "It just shrinks too much."

"Mine doesn't stop shrinking." Savanna said, shaking her head. "It just gets smaller and smaller until it disappears."

"We'll get it." Carlee said. "Lily, you can go first, if Savanna does we'll have to find something else to practice with." She bit her lip to suppress a smile and Savanna stuck her tongue out at her.

"Very funny."

The girls sat at their table, attempting to perfect their Shrinking charms and, on the other side of the room, Alice was staying out of their sight and chewing on her bottom lip.

It was Clair again. She hadn't really said much to her since the beginning of the month, but today she had made an exception. At least she was straying away from her usual jeers. She hadn't said anything about Alice being a stuck up Pure-blood. Today she was simply making fun of her. The way her hair stuck out and frizzed, the way her cheeks were sort of pudgy, how short she was and how she didn't have any friends.

Alice could ignore the no friends taunt. She knew she had friends. Very good friends, who she should tell about what was going on with Clair. The other things Clair had felt the need to point out were not so easily forgotten though.

She had never been insecure, she had never had a reason to be insecure. She was well liked enough, and accepted enough where she didn't feel the need to worry about how she looked, or how she acted. She was comfortable with herself, but now, whenever she saw Clair or one of Clair's friends, she felt the need to duck her head and avoid eye contact. It wasn't right. Alice wasn't the kind of girl who ducked her head and took insults from someone like that, but she just didn't know how to get her to stop. She had tried to talk to her, she had tried to reason with her, she had retaliated and nothing had worked. Clair was still keen on making Alice feel bad.

Carlee stood up from the table where she was working with Savanna and Lily, and Alice quickly brought her book up over her face and tried to blend in. There weren't many people in the library though and Carlee was walking towards her so she spotted her.

"Alice?" She asked, stopping beside her. Alice put her book down and tried to look appropriately surprised.

"Carlee!"

"What are you doing? Didn't you see us, right there?" She pointed to Lily and Savanna, both of who were still bent over a book.

"I didn't, I was concentrating on this chapter."

"You were pretty focused on your History of Magic reading?" Carlee asked skeptically, reading the front of the book.

"Yes." Alice said.

"Alice, you hate History of Magic."

"I do not. I just don't like listening to Professor Binns' lessons. The material is actually very interesting." Carlee pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

"What's wrong?" She asked, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the table. "And don't you dare lie to me."

Alice gulped. She didn't want to tell them. She wanted to deal with Clair herself. She didn't know how she was going to, but she wanted to work it out for herself. She didn't want her friends to think that she was just some weak little second year who couldn't take care of herself.

"Carlee," Alice sighed, rolling her eyes at the blond girl. "Why does something have to be wrong? I can enjoy History of Magic every now and then."

Carlee sighed, a small frown appeared on her lips. "I hate prying. I really do, but I know something's wrong." She stood up. "You don't have to tell me, but you should talk to someone. It might make you feel better." She laughed slightly. "Though, maybe I shouldn't be talking." She pushed the chair under the table, mussed Alice's hair and walked into the Charms section.

oOoOo

Friday evening, at about half past seven, the sixth floor corridor was completely deserted. And if you were to walk through it, nothing would have seemed out of the ordinary. The suits of armor weren't out of place, the tapestries hadn't been moved, but if you walked all the way to the end of the corridor and looked to the left, _then_ you would notice it. You couldn't help but notice it. This particular corridor was usually only used by Gryffindors, since it was a shortcut between their common room and the Great Hall, not many other houses had much use of a shortcut that led from the sixth floor to the first, but almost all the Gryffindors took it. Except the first years, who had yet to learn about it.

There was a large sheet of parchment that had been stuck to the wall with a permanent sticking charm. The parchment was tinted red. It had an odd snake like pattern round the edges and large carefully drawn words in the middle.

It was a short phrase, no more than fifteen words, but when Rose Williams read what it said, she felt her blood turn to ice and she felt as though she was rooted to the spot. She stood there, staring at the parchment, her mouth slightly agape and her bag on the ground at her feet, forgotten.

**The Death Eaters shall rise and those who oppose shall fall. **

And lying on the ground, under the parchment, was a small, round, black object with gold letters artfully spelling out the word, _Beatles_.

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**Reviews make the world go round...**


	9. The Lost and Found

******AN: Hey everyone, sorry you didn't get an update over the weekend like usual, but something really exciting happened to me and I didn't have any time to update! I moved into my dorm! I've now officially started college and I live on campus and so far it's pretty fun and the classes are really interesting and the foods great, and... you don't' want to hear it. I'm sorry I didn't update, hopefully you accept my excuse. Now, enjoy reading!**

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**Chapter Nine: Lost and Found**

Most people couldn't decide what was more concerning. The fact that there were hundreds of parchment posters plastered all around the wizarding world, or that one had actually been hung up in Hogwarts. The words were engrained into everyone's head, **'The Death Eaters shall Rise.'** They were being muttered about in hushed conversations throughout the entire school. And when Saturday's paper came, the fact that four more Raiders had been caught didn't even make the front page, instead, terrifying pictures of the posters had greeted the readers who hadn't been expecting anything terrifying to happen. They were expecting to look at the front page and see that more Raiders had been caught, which is what they found on the third page if they even bothered to look through the rest of the paper. They were expecting to read about more captures and instead they were greeted with 'Death Eaters.'

And what was really frightening was that nobody knew what it meant. What did 'Death Eater' mean? The way it was used, it sounded as though 'Death Eaters' were people, but no one had ever heard of a 'Death Eater' before, and they were already dealing with the Raiders. They didn't know what to make of it.

"I don't like this." Mary said at breakfast. She crumpled up the paper and threw it behind her, not bothering to look past the front page or caring when one of the prefects gave her a disapproving glare. "I don't like this at all."

"I don't either." Lily said. "I don't think anyone does."

"How did it get in here?" Savanna said, looking across the room, her eyes glued to the back of her little sister's head. "I mean, who even hung it up?"

Lily shuddered. "You don't think…"

"No." Carlee said, shaking her head. "It's not possible that anyone got into the castle."

"How do you know?" Mary said. "My dad told me that there are all sorts of secret passages and tunnels in and out of the school. Maybe someone knows how to get in using one of them."

"I'm sure there isn't any way to get into the school that Dumbledore doesn't know about." Savanna said. "He's been a teacher here forever. It had to be a student."

"Why would a student hang that up?" Lily asked. "It's dreadful."

"I can point out a few that don't look like they think it's all that bad." Carlee said, looking towards the Slytherin table. "Lucius Malfoy is at the top of that list right now." And he didn't look at all upset about the front page of the paper, or anything at all. He was smiling slightly and talking to a thin, blonde-haired girl while he spread jam on his toast.

"Rodolpus Lestrange is on my list." Mary said. Rodolpus looked as though he didn't have a care in the world, he was actually laughing with another boy at the table who was holding the Daily Prophet up. "He looks like he thinks it's funny."

"It looks exactly like all the others though, the parchment I mean." Savanna said. She had been one of the only students to see the parchment because she had been walking back to the common room with Alice and the two of them had found Rose Williams frozen in front of it. "The letters, the snake pattern, it's all the same."

"Maybe someone had it with them when they came to school." Mary said. "Or someone sent it through the post. Our post isn't checked."

"Maybe is should be." Savanna said. "I suppose you're right, and as much as it angers me, I'd much rather believe that someone here put it up than think that people can get in and out of the castle whenever they want." Mary nodded.

"What do you think it means?" Lily asked. "Death Eaters?"

"I don't know." Savanna sighed. "We can't really take it literally, can we? I mean, you can't eat death."

"It could mean cheating death." Carlee said. "Living longer than you should."

"Or maybe they thrive off death." Lily said with a shudder.

"I don't like that." Mary said, shaking her head again. "I don't like it at all. Let's not talk about it anymore."

"We should talk about it." Savanna said. "It makes me feel better."

"Why?" Mary asked. "Why would it make you feel better to think that there may be a group of people out there who want to kill other people simply because they enjoy killing? Isn't it better to just not think about it? To not think of all the horrible things that could happen?"

"It doesn't disappear just because you don't want to talk about it." Lily snapped. "It's still happening, it's still real!"

"I know that." Mary said, clenching her fists together. "I just don't like talking about things like that for too long. It makes me uncomfortable."

"It makes me uncomfortable too." Lily said. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it. We should know what's going on, what's happening."

"Nobody knows what's going on!" Mary said. "And we're just a group of thirteen year olds! We're not going to work it out before the Aurors!"

"I didn't say that we were going to." Lily said, raising her voice slightly. "But we can't just ignore what's going on."

Mary pushed herself away from the table, stood up and grabbed her bag. "Don't make it sound like I don't care, Lily. I do care." She turned on her heel and marched out of the room.

Lily watched her leave. "I didn't make it sound like she didn't care. I just said that not talking about it doesn't make it go away." Carlee shrugged. "Right?"

Savanna sighed. "Lily, Mary's dad is an Auror. He's going to have to handle the 'Death Eaters,' whoever they are. I don't think she thinks they're going to disappear if she doesn't talk about it." Lily nodded.

"I know that," She said. "It's just- the way she said it. It just upset me. If these Death Eaters are anything like the Raiders then I'm the kind of person that they object to." She bit her lip. "I wasn't thinking about her dad though. I'll go and apologize." She stood up walked out of the Great Hall after Mary.

Carlee and Savanna watched her leave and then continued to eat their breakfast.

"You think they'll be at odds all day?" Carlee asked, scooping up a spoonful of oatmeal.

"I hope not." Savanna said. "I don't have much homework to do this weekend, I was hoping we could do something for fun."

"I like fun."

"Most people do." Savanna laughed. "We could go outside and play in the leaves or something." Carlee nodded.

"I do have to write a letter to my brother at some point today though, don't let me forget."

"Okay."

"Where's Lily and Mary?" Alice asked, walking up to the table and taking Lily's vacated seat.

"They're having a bit of a spat." Carlee said.

"About what?"

"The paper." Savanna said.

"Oh," Alice said. "Yes, it's quite frightening. I wonder who put up the one here in the school."

"That's what we were wondering." Carlee said. "I think it might have been a Slytherin."

"You can't just assume it was a Slytherin." Savanna said. "There are _nice_ Slytherins."

"Name one." Carlee said. "Who's not my brother."

"Sara Overton." Savanna said. "I dropped my books the other day and she picked one up for me."

"Sara is a first year," Carlee said. "And she probably should have been put in a different house."

"Why do you think that?" Alice said.

"She's a Half-blood for one thing, he mum is a muggle and her dad is a wizard. Most of her housemates aren't too keen on a family like that, and she is a sweet kid. Seems more like a Hufflepuff to me."

"G'morning, Carlee." Sirius yawned, sitting down on the bench across from her. "Did'ya read the paper?"

"Yes." Carlee laughed. "Did you just wake up?"

"Maybe." He said, yawning again. "We were out late last night."

"What do you mean you were out late?" Alice asked. "All younger years have to be back in the common room by eight o'clock."

"If you don't get caught, you don't have to be in by eight." James said, falling onto the bench next to Sirius. Remus and Peter sat down next to them as well, Remus looking the most tired of the four.

"What were you doing?" Carlee asked.

"Never you mind." James said, smiling at her.

"It's top secret." Peter said. Sirius nodded.

"We'd tell you, but then we'd have to obliviate you."

"Fine." Carlee said. "I don't want to know anyway."

"We can tell you one thing." James said. "We went and looked round the corridor where the parchment is hanging up and we found something."

"What did you find?" Alice asked.

"We found a badge of some sort." Sirius said. "We turned it into Professor McGonagall though so she could find out whose it is."

"Whoever owns the badge probably put up the parchment." James said. "The whole corridor has been blocked off since that Rose girl found it."

"It is blocked off," Savanna said. "Still. How did you four get in?"

"Never you mind." James said again.

"So you found a clue?" Alice said. "That's good. Maybe they can work out who put it there."

"Is it still on the wall?" Savanna asked.

"Yes." Remus nodded. "It's got a permanent sticking charm on it. I don't know if the professors have tried to get it down yet though. They might want to leave it there to look over it more carefully."

"Maybe." Alice said. "But it's unnerving. They'll have to take it down soon."

"They will." James said. "They're taking them all down soon. The ministry is already working on-"

"We all read the article, James." Carlee said. He tossed a bit of his toast at her, which she easily dodged.

"Look at McGonagall." Sirius said. "She looks worried."

"She's actually looking at us." Remus said. "Why is she looking at us?"

"She probably knows you were sneaking round last night." Alice said.

"Of course she does." James said. "We have detention tonight."

"We had to hand over the badge." Sirius said. "Remus was with us though, so we only got one detention."

"She's still looking at us." Alice said. "Why?"

McGonagall looked away right after that and went back to talking to Professor Flitwick.

"I think she was looking for someone." Carlee said.

"That was odd." Peter said, he shook his head and turned to look at the other boys. "Let's grab some breakfast so we can go back to the tower and get some more sleep."

"We're not going back to sleep." Remus said. "I said we could go out last night if you three agreed to go to the library with me today."

"Remus!" Sirius sighed. "I'm tired. I don't want to go to the library."

"You promised."

"Well, I would have promised to bring you back the head of a mountain troll as well. I just wanted you to come with us."

"You still have to come to the library with me."

"I'll only distract you." Sirius said. "I'll be whinging constantly and you'll end up kicking me out."

"No you won't. You'll behave because you're a good friend."

"Don't try and make me feel guilty to get me to go, Remus. It won't work."

"We promised we'd go." James said. "So we're going."

"But I want to sleep, James." Peter said. He let out a big yawn and then put his head down on the table. "I'm knackered."

"How about this, we take a doze for two hours max." James said, looking at Remus. "And then we'll go to the Library with Remus for as long as he wants, without complaining."

"That's fair." Remus said.

"Okay." Peter agreed.

"I still don't want to go to the library." Sirius said. "But alright."

"Boys are strange." Alice said, looking over at Savanna.

"Very strange." Savanna agreed. Sirius, who had food in his mouth, stuck his tongue out at her. "Very nice." She said, shaking her head.

oOoOo

Carlee was sitting on her bed with the hangings drawn shut. She had agreed to spend the afternoon outside with Mary, Savanna, Lily and Alice so she had to write a letter to her brother now. She didn't know if she'd get another chance today.

This was one of the weirdest things for her since coming back to school. She had spent almost every day with her brother for the last year, and now she hadn't seen him for over a month. She and her brother Chris were very close, before The Incident, he and Ella were the only people in the house that Carlee had ever talked to.

She knew that she should talk to someone about what had happened, and Dumbledore was still more than eager to listen, but she didn't want to. It wasn't one of those things that she didn't want to say it aloud because she didn't want to finalize it, she had gone through that already, she wasn't able to fool herself any longer. They were gone and they were never coming back.

It still hurt, and she thought that to some degree, it would always hurt, but it wasn't like it had been. Really she was fine. Coming back to Hogwarts had reopened some old wounds because everything she saw had reminded her of her sister. Everything she had done her first year here, she had done with Ella. It was getting easier now, within the walls of Hogwarts where anything was possible, where the unimaginable happened every other day and time passed in odd chunks, she stopped expecting to see her sister walk round the corner. Eventually everything stopped feeling like it had first year and she was starting to feel comfortable in the castle.

That was no longer her biggest problem.

Now it was the nightmares that seemed to be the hardest to deal with. She could deal with one less bed in the dormitory, the common slips of the tongue when people started to call her 'Ella' but corrected themselves halfway through pronouncing the 'E.' She could handle the looks people still gave her and her brother thinking that it was necessary to check in on her every few days, but the nightmares she didn't think she could handle much longer.

It was always the same dream. And it made going through the day without thinking of what had happened extremely difficult. Every night she had to relive that day, over and over, watching it happen from different angles, seeing all the things she could have done to prevent it from happening and not actually being able to do anything about it. She had woken up more than once in a cold sweat, Savanna or Lily sitting on the edge of her bed. They never said anything, and neither did the other girls, but she was sure that she screamed sometimes.

She shook her head and stared at the blank parchment in front of her, trying to erase the images of flashing lights and blood stained carpets from her mind.

She didn't want to tell anyone about what happened, she hadn't even told Chris, so she wasn't going to now. She dipped her quill in the inkwell and penned a nice letter about nothing particular, mentioning briefly the parchment that was hung up on the sixth floor since she knew he would be sure to read in the paper soon anyway. Then she told him she missed him, signed her name and sealed it.

I'll be fine, she thought, tying the envelope to her owl's leg. It'll get better on its own, there's no use worrying him when he can't do anything about it. I'll be fine.

oOoOo

Making up with Mary turned out to be a lot easier than Lily thought it was going to be, a simple apology from both of them and they were able to act like nothing had happened that morning.

They were all on their way outside when Professor McGonagall walked up to the five of them and asked if Lily would accompany her to the headmaster's office. Lily nodded and told her friends that she would meet them outside afterwards.

Lily started worrying when they were halfway there. McGonagall wasn't looking at her, and she seemed to be upset, if Lily was in some sort of trouble. She knew that she hadn't done anything, but she didn't know why she was being called to the headmaster's office. It couldn't be for a good reason, not when Professor McGonagall looked like she did.

"Candy corn." McGonagall said, when they reached the stone gargoyles. They sprang to life and moved aside, revealing a spiral staircase. They both ascended the stairs and McGonagall didn't bother knocking when they reached Dumbledore's office door.

Lily had only been in the headmaster's office twice before, both times last year. Once was when Dumbledore had explained to her and her friends what had happened to Ella, and then again when Lily had given up her letters from Ella for Dumbledore to look at. Neither incidences were welcomed or cheerful and she didn't think this visit was going to be any different.

When she walked into the office, Professor Dumbledore was seated behind his desk and there was a single wooden chair placed in front of him.

"Have a seat, Lily." He said, motioning to the chair. Lily walked over and sat down. It was hard and uncomfortable. She looked round the room, and she noticed that all the portraits of previous headmaster (those who weren't pretending to be asleep anyhow) were looking at her as though she had done something very wrong. Most of them weren't even trying to hide their looks of disapproval. She was taken aback. What did they think she had done? She began picking invisible dust off her skirt and biting her lip.

"Lily," Dumbledore said, picking up and object and placing it on the front edge of his desk. "Does this belong to you?"

Lily leant forward and picked up the object. It only took her a second to recognize it. It was the _Beatles _badge that she usually had on the front of her bag. It was the badge that Savanna had pointed out as missing just yesterday. She found it extremely odd that Dumbledore had happened across it. And even more odd that he found it necessary to find its owner. It was just a badge.

"Yes." She said. "It's mine. I keep it on my book bag."

Dumbledore sighed and she heard McGonagall click her tongue.

"How did you lose the badge, Lily?" Dumbledore asked, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"I'm not sure." Lily said, confused about their reactions. It was just a badge, it wasn't worth getting upset over. "I lost it yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Dumbledore asked, looking up at her. "Are you sure, Lily? You're sure it was yesterday?"

"Yes." Lily said. "I remember having it at breakfast because Alice Fortescue had asked me what I would want a badge that said '_Beatles' _on it for. She thought it was referring to the insect, I had to explain to her that the _Beatles_ are a muggle music…group." She felt very awkward explaining what had happened between her and Alice, not because it was an awkward story, but because Dumbledore's head seemed to have become heavier throughout her explanation and he had leant it against his hands, and his elbows resting on his desk. "Is something wrong, Professor?"

"What were you doing last night?" He asked, not looking up from his desk.

"I- I was in the library for a while, and then I went back up to the Gryffindor tower."

"Did you go through the sixth floor corridor?"

There was more than one corridor on the sixth floor, but Lily knew which one he was talking about. "Yes." She said quietly. "It was before that thing was hung up though."

"Was anyone with you, Lily?" He sounded as if he was pleading with her.

The way he had said it, the way he was looking at her, Lily wanted to say yes. She wanted to tell him that she had walked back with Carlee and Savanna, but she couldn't lie. Carlee had left an hour before Lily had, and Savanna left with Alice after Lily.

Then the pieces started to fall into place. At seven twenty something, when Lily had walked through the sixth floor corridor, there wasn't anything on the wall. And then at seven forty something, when Savanna and Alice walked through the corridor, the parchment had been hung up on the wall.

"No." Lily said, quietly. She started wringing her hands. "What does my badge have to do with anything?"

Dumbledore sighed. "It was found directly beneath the parchment." Lily was shocked.

"You don't think that I- that I put up the parchment, do you?"

"The ministry is taking these posters very seriously, they take them as what they are, a threat. And since one of them was hung up in the school, a lot of people are starting to worry, and a lot of people, myself included, want to know how one of those posters found its way into the school."

"I understand that." Lily said. "But I didn't do it."

"Headmaster," McGonagall said, walking up beside Lily. "You know she wouldn't do something like this. She's only ever been in detention once the entire time she's been here and she is well behaved in all her lessons, she turns in all her-"

"Professor, I do not believe that Lily hung up the parchment."

"I didn't." Lily said. "I lost my badge before I went to the library. You can ask Savanna and Carlee, they're the ones that pointed it out to me." Dumbledore nodded.

"I don't think that will be necessary, but thank you."

"Then why is she in here?" Professor McGonagall asked. "If you know she didn't do it?"

"The evidence all points to her." Dumbledore said, looking over his half-moon spectacles at Lily. "And I wanted to ask her if she saw anyone in the corridor while she was passing through it, or anyone near the corridor."

"I didn't see anyone." Lily said, then she remembered that she had saw someone. "I saw Yvette and Janis, but that was on the fourth floor and they were headed in the opposite direction, and I don't think they would do it either."

"Nor do I." Dumbledore said. "Lily, is there anything you wish to tell me?"

Lily started. What did he mean? She didn't do anything wrong, she didn't know anything.

"No, Professor. I don't know anything about who hung up the parchment."

"Very well. Thank you for your cooperation, Lily. You may go and join your friends now."

"Thank you, Professor." Lily said. She stood up, nodded at Professor McGonagall and then walked out the door and down the staircase.

She didn't know what had just happened, and by the time she had made it out of the castle and to the birch tree that her friends were sitting under, she still hadn't fully processed it. She had lost her badge sometime yesterday between breakfast and going to the library, and it had somehow ended up where the parchment had been hung on the sixth floor.

It wasn't impossible that the badge had fallen off her bag while she was walking through the sixth floor corridor, she had used that particular corridor numerous times yesterday, but it seemed too perfect to be a simple coincidence.

"What did he want?" Mary asked, as soon as Lily was in earshot.

"He wanted to know if I'd hung up the parchment last night."

"What?" Carlee and Mary chorused. "What do you mean he wanted to know if you had done it?" Carlee asked.

"That's ridiculous, why on earthy would you do something like that?" Savanna added.

Lily held out her badge. "They found this underneath it."

"Your badge." Savanna said. "But it was missing before the parchment was hung up."

"I'm not in trouble," Lily said. "They know I didn't do it. They just knew this was mine and they wanted to ask me some questions." She tucked the badge into her bag.

"Like if you had hung up the parchment?" Carlee asked.

"It did sound pretty bad." Lily said. "My badge was there, I lost it yesterday, the parchment was put up right after I left the corridor, I was alone…"

"That does sound bad." Alice said. "You didn't do it, did you?"

"No." Lily laughed. "Of course I didn't." She looked around her friends. "I just feel like somebody wanted it to look like I had done it. It's all too much to be a coincidence."

"You think someone tried to make it look like you did it?" Mary asked. "Who would do that?"

"I don't know." Lily said. "But I don't think I lost my stuff this week."

"I told you." Carlee said. "You never lose anything, and then in one week, half your things are missing."

"I didn't lose half my things." Lily said. "It was just a few things."

"Still," Carlee said. "I told you."

"Yes, I believe you know." Lily said. "You were right. Happy?"

"Not really." Carlee said. "If I'm right, that means someone is stealing things from you."

"They're not even stealing anything of real value." Savanna said. "Just odd things. Like your inkbottles and your herbology notes."

"I know." Lily said. "It doesn't make any sense. If they were going to steal things from me, why not take my watch, or something. Why take my herbology notes of all things."

"Because," Alice said. "You could easily drop your Herbology notes without noticing, couldn't you?"

"I suppose so." Lily said. "So they were just trying to take my things without me realizing that they were doing it? Do you think they're just trying to be a nuisance?"

"Maybe." Alice said. "Or maybe they were taking things that you could easily leave behind somewhere."

"Yes!" Mary said, catching on to what Alice was saying. "Like your badge!"

"They didn't leave my other stuff with the badge though."

"No they didn't." Mary said. "That wouldn't have looked like an accident."

"You need to tell Professor McGonagall what else is missing, Lily." Savanna said. "So they can't do something like this again. The first time it happens, it looks like an accident and they can say you didn't do it because you're a good student. But if it happens again, well if all the evidence is pointing to you-"

"They won't be able to use your good student status as an excuse not to hold you responsible." Mary said.

"This is just so stupid." Lily said.

"They're right though." Carlee sad. "You do have to tell someone."

"Yes, alright." Lily sighed. "I'll tell Professor McGonagall after dinner tonight."

* * *

**AN: Reviews are wonderful! I really do love hearing from all of you. :)**


	10. Hypocrites and Letters

******AN: Here's the next chapter, on time and everything. :) Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten:**

Lily was on her way to McGonagall's office after dinner with Savanna and Mary at her side. She had promised her friends that she would tell the professor what else she was missing in case someone tried to frame her for another crime she didn't do. She was passing the tapestry of the gardening giants on the second floor when she first heard the shouting.

"What's that?" She asked, straining to hear what the voices were saying.

"I don't know." Savanna said.

"It sounds like a fight." Mary said. "Let's go find it."

"We're going to tell McGonagall about Lily's missing things." Savanna said.

"We can do that later." Lily said. "Let's go see what going on. Maybe someone needs our help." Savanna sighed, but followed her friends to the adjacent corridor. Just as Lily stepped out from behind the wall, a jet of orange light shot past her, missing her face by an inch. Mary reached out and pulled her back.

"Oi!" She shouted. "What's going on here?"

The people stopped fighting and looked around to see who had entered the corridor. Lily wasn't even a little surprised to see Sirius and James standing with their wands out. Remus was also there, his wand out, but not raised. At the other end of the corridor was Charles Avery and Severus, both of who had their wands out.

"One of you morons almost hit Lily!" Mary said. "Now stop acting like idiots and put your wands away."

"What are you doing?" Lily asked, not looking at anyone except Severus. "They're not worth getting into trouble over."

"We're not going to get caught." Severus said, avoiding eye contact.

"You were actually." Mary said. "We could here you from the first floor."

"You could not." James said.

"Yes I could." Mary lied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Anyways, McGonagall's office is in the next corridor."

"We're busy." Avery said, looking at the three girls and sneering. "Why don't the three of you run along now?"

"Don't talk to them like that!" James shouted.

Lily was confused. He hadn't said anything offensive. His tone was patronizing, sure, but he didn't actually say anything mean.

"Shut your mouth, Potter." Severus snapped, still looking at the ground and moving to put his wand back in his pocket.

"Don't back down now, Snape." Avery said, elbowing him in the side. "Just because_ she's_ here."

"I'm not!" Severus said.

"Then get your wand back out!"

"I think we've made our point." He said, pulling his wand out anyway.

"What's going on here?" Lily asked, still looking at Severus.

"Yes, why don't you tell her, Snivellus? Tell her why we're dueling." Sirius sneered. "Tell her what your little friend said. What _you_ said."

"Shut up." Severus shouted, then he pointed his wand at Sirius. He shouted a spell and jet of light hit Sirius square in the chest, knocking him off his feet. He sprawled on the ground and groaned.

"You bloody prat!" James yelled, whirling on Severus. James' full body bind hit him and he fell back onto the floor as well. "You alright, mate?" James asked, walking over to Sirius and reaching out his hand to help him up.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lily turned her head just in time to see Remus catch Avery's wand.

"Did you just try to attack me while my back was turned?" James asked, looking outraged. "Give him his wand back, Remus." He said, pulling up the sleeve of his robe.

"No."

"Remus," James said. "I can't hex him if he doesn't have his wand on him."

"No." He sounded angry, but he wasn't glaring at James. "No, I'm not giving him his wand back. We've finished fighting. Lily's right, they're not worth it."

Lily opened her mouth to say that she had been talking to Severus, but Avery started talking first. "You weren't even doing anything. You were just standing there, watching."

"He doesn't have to fight if he doesn't want to." James said. Suddenly there was a horrible retching sound. Sirius was leaning against the wall, clutching his stomach and vomiting all over the floor.

"That's disgusting." Mary said, putting a hand over her mouth. Avery laughed.

"Remus, give him his wand back." Lily said, taking her own wand out. She waved it at Severus, whose body bind curse broke and he quickly stood up, dusting off his robes off. "Both of you, get out of here before I find it necessary to go and find a professor." Severus looked up at her, surprised. "I'm serious."

Remus tossed Avery's wand back to him. The two Slytherins stood in the corridor for a moment longer. Then Avery eyed Lily's wand and seemed to do the math, two on three he would do but two on four, possibly six if Mary and Savanna joined in? He wasn't that thick. Severus followed him out of the corridor without saying anything to Lily.

As soon as they were gone, Lily spun round on her heel and started marching off.

"Evans!" James called after her. "Evans, hold on!" She didn't stop walking.

"Aren't you going to take Sirius to the hospital wing?" She asked, not looking over at him. "He's still puking."

"Remus and Savanna are taking him. I think Mary ran to the loo."

"She doesn't do well with sick people." Lily said.

"I'm sorry." James said. "About what you just saw."

"What?" Lily asked. She stopped walking and turned to face him. He turned towards her also.

"I said, I'm sorry."

"I heard you." Lily said.

"I know he's your friend, but if you heard what those two were saying, you would have hexed them too."

"I don't think I would have."

"I think you would ha-"

"I don't care what you think." She pushed her hair back and fought the urge to stomp her foot on the ground. "And why do you think you can just apologize and make everything better? I just walked in on you dueling my best friend! I watched you hex him, and taunt him and you think you can just apologize? That's not how it works!"

"Then what do you want me to do?" James asked, running a hand through his hair. "I don't want you to be upset with me, so I'm apologizing."

"It's a bit too late for that." Lily laughed humorlessly. "I'm already upset with you. You're always doing something stupid." She bit her lip and started walking away again. And again, he followed her. "You know what I want you to do, Potter?"

"No, tell me please." James said.

"I want you to leave me alone and I want you to leave Severus alone." James stopped walking for a second and looked honestly shocked. Lily didn't notice this of course, she was looking ahead.

"I don't want to leave you alone, Evans." He said, no longer sounding apologetic.

"I don't really care." Lily said. "That's what I want."

"You don't even know why I hexed him!" James sighed.

"You don't need a reason! Do you?" Lily asked, turning her head just long enough to glare at him. "You didn't have a reason with Benjy or Rabastan or Stephen. You just do whatever you want, because you can."

"That's not true!"

"Really, Potter? So you don't sneak round after lights out, simply because you know you won't get caught, or because you don't care if you get caught?"

"That's not why we're out after-"

"You don't act stupid in class just because you want everyone to think you're smart?"

"You know, I didn't do anything to you." James said. He stopped walking, and so did Lily. "If you want to yell at someone, go yell at Snivilus. I wasn't in the wrong just a few minutes ago. He was." James turned to walk away, but paused after taking a few steps and turned back round. "And _he_ fired the first hex, just to let you know. It wasn't me or Sirius or even Avery. It was Snape."

"You probably drove-"

"I'm not going to stand here and listen to you act like a bloody hypocrite." James said, grabbing a fist full of his hair. "Because of course it's alright for him to hex me, but if I pull my wand on _him- _Ergh! You're thick, you know that? And it's going to get you hurt one day."

"Is that a threat?" Lily shouted.

"No." James sighed, his voice softening. "No, it's the truth."

"Severus is a good friend, and a much better person than you." Lily said to James' back. He was almost at the end of the corridor now, but she hadn't finished arguing with him yet. She was still angry, she still wanted to shout. He paused for a second, but then kept on walking.

James couldn't believe it. How could Lily be friends with someone as vile as Snape? She was nice to everyone, and she never spoke ill of anyone (except him, when she was shouting at him, but he was pretty sure he was the only exception.) Lily Evans was a good person though. And Snape hung round with people like Avery.

Avery had been _laughing_ about the phrase. "**The Death Eaters shall rise** **and those who oppose shall fall." **He had said, and James had heard him say, that it was just another way to scare the Mudbloods. James had seen Severus nod, agreeing with the git, and that's when he had interrupted their pleasant conversation.

By the time anyone had pulled out their wands, James was seeing red, and, as he walked away from Lily, he was seeing red again. She stuck up for Snape all the time, she never let anyone say anything against him whether he was around or not. And he had heard the things Avery had said about Lily and others of her birth, and he had watched Snape just stand by, even agree with them. It made him angry that she went to such lengths to protect him, and that he didn't even stand up to his friends for her. He didn't stop Avery from calling her the M-word. But when James suggested that maybe Severus was at fault for the fight, Lily wouldn't even let him explain himself. It wasn't fair that Snape treated her like that. It wasn't fair that he got to be friends with her and he didn't even act like her friend.

He didn't understand how someone as bright as Lily could be so thick about something that was so obvious to everyone else. Her other friends didn't think to highly of Snape, they weren't blind when it came to how he treated her. He was sure they noticed that Lily and Snape were never actually seen together walking round the castle anymore. That hadn't happened since first year, maybe the beginning of second.

If she wasn't going to do anything about the way he treated her, he was.

oOoOo

The next week did not start out well for those living at Hogwarts. Monday morning lessons were canceled, Kerri Clarke had been rushed out of the Great Hall by a witch from the ministry, James received a terrifying letter, Lily was being harassed by people she thought were her friends, and Alice, who wasn't sorry, ended up with a week of detention.

Lessons were canceled for all of Monday. There was a notice on the bulletin board in the common room and all the prefects made sure that everyone knew before they left the Gryffindor tower. Nobody knew why classes were canceled, but nobody was complaining much either.

"That means I have till Wednesday to do that Divination essay." Sirius said, climbing out of the porthole with the other three Marauders.

"If you didn't do it for today, what makes you think you'll do it by Wednesday?" Remus asked. Sirius shrugged.

"I probably won't."

"It gives me more time to go over my Arithmancy homework." James said. "Between Quidditch practice and all the scouting we're doing, I barely finished it last night."

"We don't have to go out _every_ night-"

"We need to finish the map." James said. "I'm not complaining. I finished my homework, it's just nice to have a day off."

"I wonder why we do." Peter said. "This never happens. They don't just cancel lessons."

"It is strange." Sirius said. "But any day that I don't have to go to Divination is a good day in my book."

"Oh good." Carlee said, yawning widely. "I was up till midnight doing that stupid Divination essay. I'm going back to bed."

"Me too." Mary said, lacing her arm through Carlee's and turning back towards the stairs.

"You can't." Dorcas Meadows said, she was the prefect who had just told the girls that lessons were canceled for the day.

"Why not?" Lily asked. She was fairly tired herself. With all the stresses of the weekend, plus homework it was actually a wonder that she had found the energy to get out of bed at all this morning.

"Dumbledore wants everyone to go down to the Great Hall, I think he has an announcement to make."

"What kind of announcement?" Savanna asked.

"Maybe they caught whoever hung that thing up." Mary said. "Or he wants to inform us that the ministry finally declared an Albus Dumbledore day and it's going to be a school holiday as well. All we have to do is eat chocolate frogs until everyone in the school has one of his cards."

"I don't think that's it." Dorcas said with a smile. "But I'm going to keep my fingers crossed."

"Me too." Mary yawned. "Though hopefully we can wait until later to eat the chocolate frogs. I don't really like to eat chocolate this early in the morning. It gives me a stomach ache."

"Well," Savanna said. "Let's head down and see what he wants."

"You don't think that it's anything bad, do you?" Lily asked. "I mean, classes are canceled."

"I told you," Mary sighed. "It's Dumbledore day."

"Right." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Dumbledore day."

Kerri Clarke was a seventh year Ravenclaw and played keeper for their Quidditch team. She was sitting with her friends in the Great Hall when a woman in dark blue ministry robes came up and tapped her on the shoulder. The woman had thick gray hair pulled into a neat bun and her lips were painted dark red and pursed, making it look as though she was perpetually displeased.

"Can I have a word with you outside?" The ministry witch asked her. She began walking towards the oak door before Kerri could answer her.

Kerrie looked at her friends who shrugged and then she hopped off the bench and followed the woman out into the Entrance Hall.

"What is this about?" Kerri asked, looking at the woman's odd little frog broach that was pinned on the collar of her robes. She wasn't worried at all. She was thinking about how her breakfast was getting colder and colder the longer she was out here. She was thinking about the homework she wouldn't have to rush through during lunch today because now it wasn't due until Thursday.

"Is your mother's name, Clancy Clarke?" The woman asked, pulling out a slip of parchment from her pocket and unfolding it.

"Yes." Kerri said. "Do you know her? She organizes Quidditch games and stuff."

"Yes." The woman said. "I know. And your father, his name is Harold Clarke?" Kerri nodded. She folded the paper back up and replaced it in her pocket. She clasped her hands together and looked Kerri in the eye. "My name is Ivory Jones, I work at the ministry. I find homes for orphaned children within the magical community."

"What are you doing here?" Kerri asked.

"Dear," Ivory Jones paused. "Your father passed away earlier this morning." She said, placing a hand on Kerri's shoulder.

"No." Kerri said, shaking her head. "My dad's not- he can't be-"

"I'm terribly sorry dear, but I'm afraid he is."

"But why are you here?" Kerri said, trying to get her thoughts straight. There had to be some sort of mix up. Her dad couldn't be dead. Why was this woman here? Shouldn't her mother be here, should she be the one to tell her this awful news?

"I came to pick you up." Ivory said. "Your mother is in the hospital and she wants to see you."

"What do you mean she's in the hospital?" Kerri said, taking a step back. She gripped the sides of her robes and bit the tip of her tongue. "She's fine. I got a letter from her yesterday."

"There was an attack at the ministry." Ivory said. "The healers will explain more when we get to St. Mungo's, but we have to leave quickly."

"Why?"

Ivory sighed. "Because, Kerri. I'm afraid she doesn't have much time."

Dumbledore stood behind his owl podium and looked out at everyone in the room. "There had been an attack." He said, pausing to let his words sink in. "It occurred at the ministry late last night. It was an unusual attack, there were no Raiders there, there were no hexes fired, instead a deadly poison was released into one of the rooms that a group of men and woman were in. Most of the people have not died." He said, hoping to reassure them. "And if you are sitting in here, you should know that none of your family members are in any _immediate_ danger."

There was a screeching noise and a few owls started to come into the room. "Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that they weren't affected by the poison." He watched with a heavy heart as owls stopped in front of students, giving them letters that none of them should have to read. "If the poison did not prove fatal to those in the room, it made them extremely sick. Those of you who have family members who are currently in St. Mungo's will all get to leave the school to visit them. You do, however, have to wait until the ministry has deemed it safe." He saw an owl swoop down and land in front of James. He took the letter and then left it unopened on the table in front of him. He knew what was in it and Dumbledore couldn't help but feel guilty. He should be doing more to stop the raiders, he might have been able to prevent this.

"I wanted to tell you this myself before the Prophet arrived. I want you all to be kind to each other today, because this is a difficult time for everyone and we must stay united." He stepped down from the podium, not knowing what else there was to say.

James grabbed his letter and stormed out of the Great Hall as soon as Dumbledore was finished with his speech.

He had been worried about this. He had been terrified that something was going to happen to his mum now that she was working higher up in the ministry. Professor Jewell had tried to tell him that nothing would happen, but she had been wrong. Something had happened and James was terrified to open the letter. He knew she wasn't dead, if she was, he wouldn't be here right now, Dumbledore had said as much. For some reason, that wasn't much comfort to him.

His mum was older, she couldn't handle getting sick as well as she used to.

With shaking hands, James tore open the envelope and pulled out the thick, yellow, ministry parchment.

_Dear James Potter,_

_It is my deepest regret to have to inform you that last night, while attending a meeting, your father was exposed to a poisonous substance and has been taken to St. Mungo's for immediate treatment. _

_We hope that he will make a full and speedy recovery, Unfortunately, we do not have any further information at present. _

His dad? His dad was in the hospital now? What in the world had he been doing in the ministry?

oOoOo

Despite it being both a pretty solemn day and Dumbledore's request, people still found it necessary to harass Lily. It had somehow got out that Lily's badge had been found beneath the parchment in the sixth floor and now everyone had to comment on it. The Slytherins thought the idea that Lily had hung up the parchment was hilarious. The Hufflepuffs might actually believe that she had hung it up and the Ravenclaws were split half and half.

Most of her own house backed her. They knew she was innocent, otherwise McGonagall would have done something about it, and told the others that she was innocent. But people wanted to believe what they wanted to believe, and Lily was an easy scapegoat for those who wanted to believe that she was guilty.

She was doing her best to ignore it, she knew she was innocent and she didn't really care too much about what other people thought about her. Well, she cared less about what others thought about her than the usual thirteen-year-old girl.

"I don't like this." Carlee said, after telling off a Ravenclaw prefect. "They can't really think you did it, can they?"

"Obviously they can." Lily said, dropping her gaze to the floor as a group of Hufflepuffs walked by, whispering about her and not even trying to avert their eyes.

"They're thick." Mary said. "All of them."

"That's the twelfth time that you've said that." Lily said.

"It's true. I'll say it again too. They're thick. All of them."

The girls were going back to their dormitory now. They had tried to go to the library, but had to leave after about ten minutes because people kept coming up and asking Lily why she did it.

When they reached the Gryffindor tower, Savanna greeted them at the porthole.

"Have you seen Alice?" She asked.

"No." Lily said. "She didn't want to go to the library with us."

"Look what she left on the table this morning at breakfast." Savanna said, pulling out a piece of parchment from her robes. "I didn't mean to read it but…"

"Oh my…" Carlee said. "You don't think…"

"I hope not." Savanna said.

Some girl named Kerri had lost her parents this morning, Alice's mum was in the hospital and her father didn't want her to leave the school until the Healers had said that whatever her mother had wasn't contagious and no one was telling her anything. She was stuck at school with no information about her mother and she was expected to be satisfied? She mentally berated her father for being so worrisome. Other children had gone home, they weren't stuck in the school, worrying about their mums and wondering what was going on.

She was pacing back and forth in a deserted corridor, needing to be alone for a while, when she heard a sound that she really couldn't deal with. Not on top of everything else she had to deal with that day.

"Did you hear about Kerri's mum?" Clair's voice floated down the corridor as she and two of her friends walked around the corner. "She didn't make it either. It's all very tragic isn't it? I mean, they rushed Kerri out to see her, and then what? She had to watch her own mum die."

Alice turned her back on them and started stalking off in the opposite direction. She really didn't want them to notice her. And for once it wasn't because she was afraid of what they would say, or angry about what they were saying about her, it was because she honestly didn't think she could handle it. If she was afraid of anything, she was afraid of what she would do if Clair said anything to her.

She heard one of the other girls whisper something and knew it didn't matter anymore. She had been spotted.

"Alice? Is that you?" Clair called out. "Don't run away, I don't bite."

"Not now, Pitchfield." Alice said, fighting the urge to turn round and hex all of them.

"Pitchfield?" Clair laughed. "I didn't know we were on a last name basis. Do you really think that little of me? You can't even call me by my first name, _Fortescue_?" She laughed. "I was going to give you my sympathies. About your mother. But if you can't even call me by my na-"

"SHUT UP!" Alice shouted, spinning round and marching back over to Clair. "Shut up!" Clair was shocked, her mouth was still open and she was staring at Alice with wide eyes. "I _do_ think a contempt of you. And you know something, it had absolutely _nothing_ to do with your blood status, or my blood status. I think you're a low-life because you're a bully who likes to pick on me to make yourself feel better or- or- whatever! And I don't know why you think you're so much better than me, because you are _worse_ than some of the pure blood elitists who actually think all the things that you say I think!" She clenched her fist around the handle of her wand and kept shouting at the stunned girl.

"You call me names, you put me down, you make me feel awful and you have the gall to make out that you have the moral high ground here? Like you're not doing anything wrong? My mum is in the hospital with some deadly disease that has already killed five witches and wizards and I don't have any way of knowing if she's going to be all right. I do not need you to come in here and make me even more upset."

Alice took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

"Wow." Clair said after a moment, when the initial shock had worn off. "I didn't know you were so… angry."

"Angry?" Alice asked, snapping her eyes open. "Clair, are you serious? Do you not remember the things you say to me all the time?"

"I never say anything that's not _true._" She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I can't believe that you just accused me of coming over here just to make you upset. I also don't know why you think you can get away with lying. I know that you think you're better than me because you're a Pure-blo-"

Alice had heard enough. Without thinking of the consequences, without thinking much at all really, Alice Fortescue, the small, polite, friendly second year, whipped out her wand and hexed Clair. She had mixed a couple different hexes together in her haste, so the effect was not something that Alice had meant to do.

Clair's face turned bright blue and her hair started falling out in clumps.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Clair shouted, catching a tuft of her hair. Alice brought her hands up to her face and covered her mouth, trying to keep herself from smiling.

"Alice?" Professor Flitwick walked around the corner and into the corridor. He took in the scene in front of him and then looked between Clair and Alice. "What's going on here?"

"She hexed me!" Clair shouted. "For no reason at all, she just attacked me!"

"Clam down, Clair. I'm sure everything is going to be just fine." He turned to one of Clair's friends. "Why don't you take her down to the hospital wing and see what Madam Pomfrey can do for her."

"Yes, Professor." The girl said. Then both of the girls had to drag Clair out of the corridor while she tried to shield her face from anyone they might run into on the way.

"Alice?" He turned to the only girl left in the corridor. "What happened?"

"I'd be lying if I said I was sorry, Professor." Alice sighed. "She's- it's just- I don't think I'm better than her because of my blood status!" She said quickly.

"So you found it necessary to hex her?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No." She put her wand back in her pocked. "She keeps telling everyone that that's how I think. And she says other stuff too, like how my hair is weird and my teeth are too big. She's just mean." She started picking at the edge of her robe. "I suppose I took it a bit too far. I know I shouldn't have hexed her."

"I wish you would have told me about this earlier, Alice." Professor Flitwick said. "We do not allow bullying at Hogwarts." Alice nodded, thinking of everything people were saying to Lily, of Rabastan and Avery and everything they had done this year. "We also don't allow our pupils to hex each other. I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a week of detention."

"Yes, Professor." Alice said.

"Alice," The professor said, changing his expression from stern to concerned. "I hope your mother gets better."

She tried to smile, but suddenly felt like crying. She had used up all her anger and now she was just worried. "Thank you."

* * *

**AN: Please leave a review to tell me hw I'm doing, what you like, what you don't like. I like reviews. A lot.**


	11. A Stand Still

**AN: Alright, do to circumstances only slightly in my control, my updates will no longer be twice a week. I am going to try and continue doing on a week, but I don't know if that will happen. I've just started college and that's a priority over this if you can believe it. :)**

**I'm not abandoning the story, and you'll still get updates, just not two a week anymore. Sorry. But go ahead and enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: A Stand Still**

Wednesday afternoon, James sat on the bottom step in the Entrance Hall, waiting for his mother to come back from Dumbledore's office. He didn't know what they had to talk about, or why they thought it was more important than going to see his dad, but he was left to dig his fingernails into his palms and tap his foot to relieve his anxiety as he waited for them.

He wasn't he only one waiting. Alice was sitting beside him, acting as anxiously as he was.

When he found out that her mum was in the hospital as well, he quickly work out what his dad had been doing at the ministry even though he was a healer and actually worked at St. Mungo's. Alice's mum and James' dad, together with just over a dozen other healers, were in a meeting with the St. Mungo's board of directors that was run by the ministry. They were casting the final vote on whether or not muggles would be allowed to be treated in, or even enter the hospital. That was probably why the attack had happened. After all the campaigning his parents had done, they had convinced almost everyone that it was not a good idea to ban muggles from St. Mungo's. The attack, James had learned from the Prophet, had pushed the vote back to next week. If not all of the original voters had recovered by then, the board would select at random different member of the hospital's staff to vote, making it a lot less likely for the vote to go the way his dad wanted.

"Thank you so much." He heard his mum say faintly. He then heard her heels clicking on the flagstone floor. "I didn't mean to waste any of your time."

"I don't consider that a waste of time." Dumbledore said.

The headmaster and his mum came into view and James stood up.

"I'll talk to you soon." Liza Potter said, shaking Dumbledore's hand.

"I believe you will." He nodded to James and Alice and then turned and walked back towards his office.

"Alight?" She said, looking at her son. "Are you ready?"

"I've been ready for the last twenty minutes." She frowned slightly at him and then turned to Alice.

"What about you, Alice?"

"What do you mean?" She stood up.

James' mum put a hand on Alice's shoulder. "When I left, your mum was just waking up and your dad didn't want to leave her. I told him I'd pick you up since I was already coming here to get James." She smiled. It wasn't a real smile though, James had come to know the difference. His mother was keeping something from them, and that thought made his stomach drop.

St. Mungo's had always made James feel uncomfortable. The walls were too white and it smelled odd. Like a mixture of cleaning potions and flowers. The only thing he liked about the hospital was the entrance. You had to walk through a shop window and then you ended up in the hospital, it was like the brick wall entrance at the Kings Cross.

He followed his mum, who walked past the woman at the front desk without so much as looking at her. James saw the woman narrow her eyes as they passed and made a mental note to ask his mum what that was about later.

They walked over to the lift, and waited for one to arrive.

"I don't know why they don't install another one." Liza said under her breath. "Merlin knows they need too."

A few moments later, in which time half a dozen others had gathered round them also waiting, a lift appeared.

"Hullo Harold. Third floor please." Liza said to the man working the lift.

"Yes, Mrs. Potter." The man nodded. The others that were waiting entered the lift and told the man where they needed to go as well.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the third floor.

When the doors opened, Liza walked out quickly, taking long confident strides. James looked over at Alice who looked like she was about to throw up.

"Out you go." Harold said cheerfully, for some reason his tone only increased the dread James was feeling. No one was acting how he thought they should. Harold was too happy, his mother was too sure of everything, the woman at the desk downstairs was too angry. Alice was the only one who was acting correctly. James felt as she looked, and he took comfort in that.

"Alight?" James asked Alice, turning his head slightly.

"Alright." She nodded. He nodded as well and then took a step out of the lift and followed his mums retreating figure. "You think they're okay?" Alice asked quietly. "My mum and your dad?"

"Your mum woke up." James said with a shrug. "She didn't say anything about my dad though." He nodded toward his mum who was walking through a door on the left side of the long hallway.

"I suppose." Alice said, turning her head to look at the portraits of old healers that lined the walls. "I hate hospitals." She whispered, a few of the portraits narrowed their eyes at her. "I hope we don't have to stay here long."

James nodded.

They walked up to the door that they had seen Liza walk into. It was labeled 'Poisons' and James pushed it open, allowing Alice to walk in first. Mostly because that way, he didn't have to.

They were now in a long narrow corridor lined with more doors, this time with numbers on them. There were chairs pushed up against the walls meant to seat family members of the patients. It was something that James had seen before, many times in fact. It was just the first time that he was here when those chairs were meant for him.

"I can't see your mum anymore." Alice said. "Are you sure she went in this door?"

James didn't need to answer though because, just then, Liza stuck her head out of a door at the end of the hall. "In here." She said, waving them down the corridor.

"They're in the same room?" James asked, a bit relieved that he wouldn't be alone with his sick, possibly unconscious father and his mum.

"I suppose so." Alice said.

They walked down the hall, all the while James was dreading what he was going to find when he entered the room. He really had no idea what to expect because nobody had told him much of anything. Most of what he knew he had read in the Prophet, and he wasn't even sure if he could believe what he read there.

The room was cramped and had the same bright white walls and floor that was found everywhere else in the hospital. There was a healer standing in the middle of the room with a clipboard and a quill. She had a severe look on her face and it made James want to turn round and run in the opposite direction. Why did she look like that?

"Alice?" Someone croaked from the left side of the room. They were half hidden by a man that James knew to be Alice's dad.

"Mum!" Alice cried, pushing past James in her haste to get into the room. He watched Alice throw her arms around the pale, sickly woman in the hospital bed and heard them start talking to each other, her mum trying to reassure her and Alice saying how worried she'd been. He blocked it out.

James looked on the other side of the room and saw his father lying on the bed. What he saw made his breath catch in his throat. He looked as though someone had hit him repeatedly with a Bludger bat. He had what appeared to be large purple bruises all over his exposed skin and some red welts as well. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving much, just the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

"Dad?" James whispered, walking over to the edge of the bed. His dad looked so weak, so vulnerable, so unlike his dad. He felt his eyes start to sting and had to look somewhere else, anywhere else. He didn't want to be here.

"Oh, James." His mum sighed, coming up and putting an arm around James' shoulder. "He'll be alright. You know he will."

oOoOo

Thursday afternoon, James still wasn't back at school. Nor had he sent his friends a letter to let them know what was going on. Not that Remus could blame him. He had a lot on his mind, Remus was sure, and wouldn't be thinking about sending letters to reassure them.

"When's he coming back?" Peter asked. The boys were all in their dormitory. Sirius and Peter were trying to make it through a game of chess and Remus was attempting to read. They were all worried for their friend and hadn't been able to do much.

"We don't know, Pete." Sirius muttered. "It's your move."

"Sorry." Peter said, moving a pawn at random and accidently exposing his knight. Sirius noticed and moved his own knight to take Peter's. "I'm just worried about him."

"We all are." Remus said, putting his book down. "But he'll be back soon."

"What if…" Peter moved another pawn. "What if- you know."

"That's not going to happen." Remus said quickly. [Cult/era That won't happen"]

"Mr. Potter will be okay." Sirius said. "You read the Prophet this morning. No one else has died yet and the healers said that-"

"I know." Peter said. "But Mr. Potter is pretty old."

"He's not that old." Remus said. "Is he?"

"He's not quite seventy." Sirius shrugged. "But he's going to be okay."

"I hope you're right." Peter said then he looked down at the chess board. "I don't want to play anymore."

"Me neither." Sirius said. "Let's go down to the kitchens."

"Good idea." Peter said. "Remus?"

"I'm coming." He put his book on his bed and stood up.

The Marauders made their way down to the kitchen, going the long way round to ensure that they didn't run into anyone and walking at a leisurely pace. They didn't really want to get to the kitchens, once they were there they would have to sit round and pretend they weren't worried again. Why they had to pretend was lost to all of them, they all knew the others were just as worried as they were, but they didn't want to talk about it. Not really. Because if these Death Eaters could do something like this, if they could land James' dad in the hospital, the fight, the attacks and the murders, they really weren't as far from the boys as they would have liked to think.

They did eventually make it to the kitchens and Sirius reached up and tickled the pear, making the portrait swing open. They walked in and seated themselves round the small fireplace at the back of the room. A few elves gathered round and asked them what they wanted to eat and then ran away to fetch the food.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?" Peter asked, watching a very young house elf scamper away to retrieve a jug of pumpkin juice for them. "That they actually live to serve us."

"They like doing it." Sirius shrugged.

"I know." Peter said. "But think about it. What if the sole purpose of your life was to wait on others?"

"I would probably jump off the astronomy tower." Sirius said. "But if I was a house elf, I would love doing what I'm told."

"It's still sad." Peter said.

"It is." Remus agreed. "Not having a choice and not knowing any better either. It's worse than being a slave really, because you think you enjoy doing everything."

"They _do_ enjoy it." Sirius said. "They actually can get depressed if you don't tell them what to do. If you leave a house elf alone for too long, it goes a bit mad. That's how my mum punishes our house elves when they spill something or don't do something right. She just won't order them about, they usually end up crying. It's pathetic."

"Sirius," Remus leant up from his chair and turned so he was facing Sirius. "Think about what you just said and tell me that there's nothing wrong with it."

"There is." Sirius said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "But that's just how they work. It's not the life I would want to live, but if I was a house elf… well then I wouldn't know that."

They heard the portrait door swing open and they all turned towards the door, monetarily thinking that they had been caught somewhere they shouldn't be. But instead of a professor, they saw Daniel Baker enter the kitchen.

"How did you get in here?" Sirius asked. Daniel jumped, looking over at the three boys in surprise. When he saw who it was he laughed.

"Don't tell me that you're thick enough to believe that you're the only ones who know where the kitchen is." He smiled at the boys and walked over, taking the fourth armchair.

"We might have." Peter said. "How did you find it?"

"Same way as you I expect." He said. "Spending hours wandering aimlessly about the castle."

"We don't wander _aimlessly_." Peter said. "We have a purpose for doing it."

"Hoping to stumble across secret rooms?" Daniel laughed.

"Maybe." Peter said.

"Carlee told you." Sirius said, casting a warning glare at Peter. "Didn't she?"

"No." Daniel said. "I did tell her though."

"When?" Sirius said. "Because we found the kitchens without her help."

"I told her when she first started school." He said. "Well, to be fair, I didn't tell you. Dy-" He coughed. "Dylan did. They got along much better than Carlee and I did."

"Okay, but what exactly did he tell her?" Remus asked, looking slightly confused. "That she should find them, or…"

"He told her where they were and how to get in." Daniel said. "I thought it was stupid of him to tell her, I mean, half the fun of the kitchen is finding it. I mean, who would think to tickle the pear?"

"Carlee's can be a git." Sirius said, shaking his head. "We sat outside the kitchens for over three hours trying to work out how to get inside and she just sat there, watching us." Daniel laughed. "She could have just told us how to do it, but she didn't. She just sat there."

"Sounds like her." He said. "She probably just wanted you to work it out for yourselves. Like I said, it's more fun that way."

"I had to listen to James sing ninety-nine bottles of butter beer. He sang almost the entire song!" Remus said. "And she was sitting right there! She could have told us."

Daniel shrugged. "So, what's going on with the three of you? Isn't there normally a fourth?"

"James isn't here." Remus said. "He's at St. Mungo's with his dad."

"Right." Daniel looked at his fingernails. "His dad was one of the healers who was poisoned."

"He'll be alright though." Sirius said. "Mr. Potter, he's a strong person."

"I'm sure." Daniel nodded. The boys didn't say anything more about Mr. Potter. The Marauders were trying to convince themselves that James' dad was going to be alright. That he was strong enough to come out of this. They didn't want James to go through losing a parent. They wouldn't know what to do, how to act. They still weren't exactly sure how to act round Carlee.

"Daniel," Remus said, breaking the silence. Daniel looked up at him for a moment before dropping his gaze again. "You don't know anything about who put that parchment up, do you?"

Daniel smiled slightly and raised his eyebrows. "Are you accusing me of something?"

"No." Remus said quickly. "I just- I mean… Well you _are_ in the Slytherin common room- not that you would know- I mean-"

"Cool it." Daniel laughed. "I was kidding. I've got my suspicions, but I don't have any proof, otherwise I'd tell someone. And you're right. I am in the Slytherin common room, quite a bit too. And if you sit by the fire and pretend to read, you over hear a lot of private conversations." He looked over at Sirius. "For example: your cousin Narcissa," He laughed. "Apparently she was dating some Hufflepuff named Terrence Brimble last year."

"Who's that?" Sirius asked.

"Some Muggle-born bloke that finished school last year."

"Cissy!" He asked, his eyes wide. "Cissy was dating a _Muggle-born_? After what happened to her sister?"

"Apparently."

"Good for her." Sirius smiled. "I think I respect her a bit more now. Just a bit though. What else have you heard?"

"Nothing good." Daniel sighed. "I think a lot of the seventh years want to become Raiders."

"And Remus said Slytherins weren't all bad." Sirius scoffed. "Daniel thinks they are and he is a Slytherin."

"I'm actually not too fond of very many people at the moment, I don't care what house they're in. And the Slytherins aren't the only house with prospective Death Eaters in it."

"Is that what we have to call them now?" Remus asked. "Death Eaters? It seems like we're giving them more credit or something if we call them that."

"I don't know. Call them Raiders if you want, but Death Eater is probably going to be used more now that it's out there. It's scarier, it'll sell more papers." He rolled his eyes. "I can't stand the Prophet sometimes. It seems like it just feeds off other people's suffering. I mean, every once in a while it prints something worth reading but… most of the time I can't stand it."

"I don't like most of the articles that make the front page." Remus agreed. "But they've printed quite a few articles about Joyce Camry, and Emery Brown's been mentioned a few times as well."

"I don't know who either of those people are." Daniel said. "Emery sounds familiar."

"She was our Quidditch captain last year." Peter said. "And Joyce was a chaser two years ago, but last year she was one of the fourteen people kidnapped. She started that Equal Magic group. Emery joined, right?" He turned to Remus.

"Yes. A lot of people have joined, but of course they're not going to put something like that on the front page. It's nothing to do with major politics, nor is it terrible news."

"What do they do?" Daniel asked. "Sit around and talk about how unfair the world is?"

"No." Remus said. "You should read some of the articles. They don't only do things to show that all witches and wizards should be equal. They are trying to show that human life, no matter your birth, is important. Last week they had some of the members help out at a muggle homeless shelter."

Daniel shrugged. "Sounds like a good cause, I suppose. Don't know how much they'll actually accomplish, but you know, good for them."

oOoOo

The Slytherin common room was particularly rowdy Friday afternoon. Regulus was ashamed to say that he was a member in the crowed that was gathered round Lucius Malfoy.

Normally, Regulus didn't really think much of Lucius one way or another. Lucius was a seventh year and Regulus a second, so they didn't interact much. Today he had no choice but to, at the very least, notice Lucius.

"Show it to us!" Rabastan said.

"Yes," Alecto agreed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Let us see it!"

"He can't show you!" Rodolpus sneered. "The Dark Lord has given Malfoy a great honor and it would be stupid of him to go round _bragging about it._" He shot a pointed look in Lucius's direction.

"I don't believe that you were the one that spoke with him, Rodolpus." Lucius said, tracing a spot on his left forearm that was still covered by his robes. He shuddered a bit and, for a moment, the pride in his eyes was replaced with a different emotion. He looked back up at Rabastan, looking smug again and sneered, "I wouldn't walk round acting as though you had any power, if I were you."

"So you're saying he told you it was alright to show it off to everyone?"

"Not everyone, obviously." Lucius sneered. "But to those I deem trustworthy." He looked out at the crowed. "Unfortunately, I don't trust all of you. But if you prove yourselves worthy, I would have no qualms with showing you. And for those of you who are of age, or almost of age, and interesting in joining the cause, you can speak to me later tonight."

"You think he's pulling our leg?" Evan asked, turning to Regulus. "I mean, the Dark Lord wouldn't really let a _seventh year_ join him. Would he?"

"I don't know." Regulus said. "But I don't know why it's got so many people worked up. He's not going to let half of these thick-heads join him."

"You're going to join, right?" Evan asked. "I know I am." He looked at Regulus expectantly.

"I don't know." He said honestly. "I don't really see the point."

"Don't see the point!" Evan laughed. "Reg, the Pure-bloods have become less and less important in our world because the Mudbloods have been pushing for _equal_ rights. They don't deserve to be treated the same as us. They don't really even belong in our world at all. Think of all the things they don't know, simply because they grew up in the muggle world."

"That doesn't mean we should kill them." Regulus said. "And if that's what the Death Eaters are doing- well I'm not sure I'd be comfortable taking someone's life." He shook his head. "Actually, I know I wouldn't be comfortable taking someone's life."

Evan shifted. "Okay, I see what you mean. I don't really want to kill anyone."

"I do think that we need to revert to the way things used to be, where only Pure-bloods could hold a position of power, but even Muggle-borns have their place in our world. We shouldn't kill them all. We do _need_ them."

"For what?" Evan scoffed.

"Well, if the Pure-bloods continue to only marry each other, pretty soon we would all be related to closely and we would die out. Then there wouldn't be any witches or wizards left."

"That wouldn't happen." Evan said. "There are a lot of witches and wizards in the world."

"Yes," Regulus said. "But there aren't a lot of Pure-blood witches and wizards."

"Okay," Evan said. "But you're not suggesting that it's okay for a Pure-blood to marry a Mudblood, are you?"

"If they love each other." He saw the look of shock on Evan's face and added, "And if they don't have respect for themselves or their families. I wouldn't marry one, but not everyone can marry a Pure-blood. Like I said, that would lead to incest."

"Didn't your cousin run off with a Mudblood?" He asked.

"We don't' really talk about Drom- Andromeda anymore." Regulus said, hanging his head. "She made a bad decisions."

"But as long as she was in love!" Evan taunted. Regulus was reminded of a conversation he had with his brother on the train to Hogwarts last year.

"_If she is happy with this Muggle-born, why shouldn't she have married him?"_ Sirius had said. It had almost made sense when he had said it. It had almost sounded _right_. But how could he agree with something like that when Evan thought it was such a joke. When his uncle had actually disowned his own daughter because marrying a Muggle-born _was_ a big deal. Sirius just didn't understand. Sirius didn't want to understand because he was so angry with their family all the time.

"Shut up, Evan." He said. Evan didn't really seem like the type of friend you actually shared things with, so he didn't say anything more.

oOoOo

Sunday night, Alice returned without James.

"Where is he?" Remus asked, after he had politely asked her about how her mum was. "How's Mr. Potter?"

Alice bit her lip. "I haven't seen him since Friday, that's when my mum left the hospital, but Mr. Potter still wasn't awake by then." She started speaking a bit more quickly. "But that doesn't really mean anything, because a lot of people haven't woken up yet. My mum said that there's probably nothing to worry about because the actual poison has already left the body, it's just healing now and that takes a different about of time for everyone."

"So James isn't coming back yet?" Sirius said.

"I'm sorry." Alice said. "I really am."

"Thanks." Peter said. "Come on then. Let's go and get some dinner."

The Marauders left and Alice took a moment to prepare herself before walking up the stairs. She knocked on the third year girls' dormitory. "Who would knock?" She heard Mary say from inside. "I don't know." Someone retorted. "We have to open the door to find out." Alice giggled.

"It's me." She said, opening the door. "I thought I'd be polite, but I see that my efforts were lost on some of you." She looked at Mary.

"Alice!" They shouted, jumping off their respective beds and engulfed her in a group hug.

"Everything's okay, right?" Savanna asked, while Carlee asked, "Your mum's all good now?"

Alice giggled again and took a step back from everyone. "My mum is okay. She's a bit tired and still has some funny colored marks on her skin, but she is much better now than she was. She up and about and will be back at work by the end of the week."

"That's wonderful." Lily said. "Did you managed to read any of the Prophet while you were away?"

"I haven't read anything since, Monday." Alice said. "I was rather afraid to. And then I was a bit preoccupied."

"They rescheduled the vote." Lily said, digging out the correct Prophet from a small stack on top of her trunk. "The vote on whether to allow muggles into St. Mungo's."

"Well they had to." Alice said, taking the paper that Lily was offering her. "It was interrupted last time."

"They've put it off until later this week." Mary said, pointing at the headline. "And if not everyone who was _going_ to vote is _able_ to vote, then they'll pick replacements at random."

"What?" Alice asked, her eyes scanning over the front page. "My mum didn't say anything about that."

"Was everyone else recovering?" Carlee asked. "If they are, then they should be able to vote."

"They aren't recovering!" Alice shouted, her good mood almost completely gone now. "My mum and three others were the only ones who had woken up by Friday. All eleven of the others were either still unconscious or very sick. They can't do that!" She threw the paper back onto Lily's trunk and let out a scream of frustration.

"It doesn't mean that the people they pick are going to vote to keep muggles out." Savanna said.

"Yes it does." Lily said. "That's exactly what that means. This attack was very deliberate. They attacked the people who were making a decision about muggle rights in the wizarding world, and they were going to vote to keep allowing muggles into St. Mungo's."

"You're right." Mary sighed, falling back on Lily's bed. "You're right." She repeated. "Now they have everyone scared again. If they have another vote, even if everyone miraculously recovers and they are all able to vote as they originally planned, there is still a much bigger chance that they will vote to keep muggles out of St. Mungo's now."

"Why?" Savanna said. "That's not right. They can't do that."

"But they might." Lily said. "Because these Raiders or Death Eaters or whoever they are, just marched into the ministry and killed four people and put another fourteen in hospital. They are flaunting their power."

"If they don't vote how the Raiders want," Mary said. "Then who's to say they won't do something like this again."

"Oh no." Alice sighed. "My mum is going to be able to vote."

"Yes," Carlee said. "That's a good thing. We need someone to stand up to them."

"But she _will_ stand up to them! She'll be out there tomorrow, just you wait, telling everyone that they still need to do what's right, that they still need to vote to allow muggles in St. Mungo's." She looked round at her friends. "What if something happens to her again, while she's still so weak?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine Alice." Carlee said. "Everyone is anticipating another attack. It'll be much harder to get to her now."

"Harder." Alice said, hanging her head. "But not impossible."

"Oh, Alice." Lily said, walking over and giving her another hug. "You can't think like that. You'll drive yourself mental."

"I know," Alice sniffed. "But it really could happen."

* * *

**AN: Again, I'm sorry about the update thing. I'll try, I promise I will. **

**Leave me reviews to tell me what you think! Do you guys like where it's going, is it too rushed? Let me know. **


	12. Favors and Advice

**AN: The latest installment... Enjoy. **

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Favors and Advice **

James was bored.

He had spent the last eight days sitting in the same chair, staring at the white wall above his dad's bed and waiting for something to change. He had watched the purple bruises on his dad's skin turn to green and then start to fade, he had watch his dad's facial hair get longer and longer. The slow pace did nothing to lessen James' worry. He still felt an uncomfortable pull at his navel whenever a healer came into his father's room and told him and his mother that they didn't know anything new yet.

He really wanted his dad to get better. It scared him that almost all the other victims of the poison were awake and his father had yet to show any signs of coming round. It terrified him that four people had died in the last eight days.

It also scared him, but in a different way, that the vote his dad had rallied so hard for had already taken place. The vote on whether Muggle-borns should be allowed in St. Mungo's. The vote had been two days ago and there was no word on the outcome.

"James, sweet heart." His mother said, standing up from her chair next to her husband. "I'm going to go up to the tea room, would you like anything?" He shook his head.

"Mum?" He asked when she reached the door. "Don't you have to go to work today?"

"Not until two." She said, looking over at the clock on the wall. It was ten. James watched the clock as she left the room. The second hand seemed to move in slow motion.

That's why James was bored. Time moved in such odd intervals in the hospital. Sometimes, usually when they put another patient in the room with his dad, the time went by faster, but when they were the only ones in there, like they normally were, time seemed to stretch on forever. He could tell that his mum was glad she was going into work today. She was just as uncomfortable with staying in the hospital as James was.

He needed something to do. He needed to keep his mind busy so that he didn't have to face the possibility that his dad might never wake up.

A healer walked into the room and James gripped the edge of his chair. She didn't seem to notice James was there. He coughed lightly and the healer looked up. "Yes?" She asked.

"Has anything changed?" He asked, not because he was expecting a different answer, but because he needed to ask. He knew the answer, but that was beside the point, he needed to ask because it had become a routine. The healer would enter, and someone would ask. Either James or his mother. The room would get more and more uncomfortable if they didn't ask.

"Now James," The healer said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and crossing her arms. "I've told you bef-"

"I know!" James said, pushing himself off his chair and throwing his hands in the air. "I was only asking." She was saying something when James left the room, but he wasn't listening.

He started walking down the hall, he needed to move, he couldn't sit in that room anymore. He wanted to go outside, to get some fresh air, so he started towards the lift.

"It's not that serious." A voice said, causing him to pause in the middle of the corridor. It came from a room a short distance from the lift and it sounded vaguely familiar to him.

"Are you serious?" Another voice said, and James knew that voice. He'd heard it so many times last year, shouting orders, calling plays, shouting at random people in the stands, he didn't think he would ever forget that voice. It was Emery Brown, his old Quidditch captain. "You were attacked!"

"Em, I'm fine." James walked up to the room and knocked on the opened door before peeking his head inside.

"Emery?" He said. "What are you doing here?"

"James?" Emery said, spinning around to face him. "What are you- I mean." She coughed. "How's your dad?"

"He hasn't changed." James said. "What are you doing here?"

"Potter." James looked at the girl who was lying in bed and was a bit surprised. It was Joyce Camery. Another old teammate of his.

"Camery." He said, walking into the room a few more steps. "What happened?" Emery huffed and pulled the bed sheet off Joyce. Her legs were swollen to twice their normal width and they looked like miniature trees. "What happened to you?"

"They're not sure yet." Emery said through clenched teeth. She waved her hand about and added, "And Joyce can't seem to remember."

"I fell and hit my head. I'm _not _protecting someone." Joyce said, shortly.

"I didn't say that you were, but now you're half tree and it's spreading, Joy. What happens when it reaches your heart or something?"

"They'll figure it out before then." Joyce said, then she gave Emery a pointed look and pulled the sheet back over her legs. "Anyway, James, what are you up to?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked. He looked up at her and saw her smiling.

"Of course I am." She said.

"She's only turning into a tree. Why wouldn't she be?"

"Emery, I want some tea." Joyce said. "Could you be a dear and go get some for me?" Emery crossed her arms and huffed again.

"Fine." She said. Then she stormed out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Why's she so upset?" James asked, walking up to Joyce's bedside.

"You know her," Joyce shrugged. "That's how she shows you she cares."

"What happened?"

"I got into a bit of a spat with some old friends." She said, looking over at the clock on the wall. "It's no big deal."

"Joyce," James said. "I don't think I agree with you. And if your friends did this, you need some new ones."

"Okay, they're not my friends." She said in a much quieter voice. "And it is a big deal." She cleared her throat and straightened her bed sheets. "That doesn't mean I want everyone to worry about me. I'm having a hard enough time convincing my mother that I am capable of taking care of myself without Emery acting like I'm trying to cover something up."

James sighed and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Do you want to talk about something else?" She nodded.

"But you don't want to do much talking either, do you?"

"Not about my dad." James said. "I only know what you know."

"What should we talk about then?" She asked.

"Equal Magic? You could tell me about that." She smiled.

"Sure." She took a deep breath. "Equal Magic is an idea more than anything else. It's a ray of hope, a way to let people know that they're not alone, that there are still people fighting for them, fighting for what's right. We want it to bring everyone closer together as a community, a magical community. Eventually we want to create a world where everyone feels like they belong. A world without boundaries, no qualifications, simply somewhere that all witches and wizards feel comfortable and safe." James sighed.

"That seems like a pretty big order."

"Right now." Joyce nodded. "But our current goals are much more realistic. For example, we want to get Georgia Copperfield a job."

"You want to get someone a job?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Not just any job." She smiled. "We want her as head of the department of magical rights."

"The legal department?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"The Raiders or the Death Eaters, whatever you want to call them, they want to get anti-Muggle Born legislation passed, but they're going to have a much harder time even getting that kind of bill in front of the Wizengamot if Georgia's in charge."

"That seems like a dangerous job." James said.

"It is." Joyce said. "But Georgia is trained and she knows the risks. And the benefits outweigh the risks. If I was qualified," She looked down at her legs. "And not turning into a human tree, I would do it." James believed it. Joyce was one of the bravest people he had ever met.

"Are you still training to be an Auror?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Moody says I'll be on payroll in just a few months."

"But it's a three year program."

"Not for everyone." Joyce said. "If they see that you've got potential, they put you in a program that's just over two years. They need more people in the department."

"That's not safe." James said. "If they have a bunch of young Aurors coming in- a bunch of new-"

"Have a little faith." Joyce laughed. "No one can do anything until Moody approves of them. And if Moody is good at one thing, it's knowing when people are ready."

"Your tea." Emery said, walking into the room.

"Thanks." Joyce said, taking the cup. "Feeling better?"

"I'm sorry." Emery sighed. "I'm worried, you know that."

"I'm worried too." Joyce said. "But you yelling at me doesn't fix anything."

"I'll stop."

"Thank you."

"I should get back to my dad's room." James said, standing up. "I'll come visit again later."

"Why do you have to go?" Joyce asked. "It's dead boring here. No offence, Emery."

"It's alright. I'm sick of you too."

James chuckled. "I didn't tell my mum I was leaving. I don't want to give her another reason to worry."

"Okay, go be a good son." Joyce said, waving him off. "But James, could you do me a favor?"

"Depends," He said. "What is it?"

"Could you liven things up around here? You used to be so good at that."

"Joy, don't encourage him." Emery whispered.

"I'll see what I can do." James said with a grin.

oOoOo

Saturday came and James still hadn't returned to school. Sirius, Remus and Peter were gathered in the Gryffindor common room watching as everyone else left the room, bundled up in red and gold to go watch the Quidditch game.

"It would be wrong to go." Sirius said. "Right?"

"Yes." Peter said. "James can't be here and they wouldn't change the date of the game so he could play. We shouldn't go."

"I know." Sirius said. "So we're not going."

"Maybe we should." Remus said. Sirius and Peter snapped their heads up to look at him.

"Why?" Peter asked. "It wouldn't be right."

"Well, when James does get back he might be upset with us for not going." Remus said. "He's probably going to count on us to give him an excruciatingly detailed account of the game."

"Damn." Sirius said. "That's another possibility. He's either going to be pissed at us for going or for not going."

"Which would he be more upset about?" Peter asked.

"I think he'd be more upset if we don't go and he wanted us to than if we do go and he didn't want us to."

"But you're not sure." Peter said.

"We're not sure either, Pete." Sirius said. "And Remus makes a good point. James is weird about Quidditch. He'll probably want us to go."

"So we are going?" Peter asked.

"We're going." Remus said.

"Then let's go get our cloaks." Sirius said.

The November air was dry and freezing, and was currently doing a very good job of trying to knock the fourteen Quidditch players clean off their brooms and making the people watching the game quite irritable.

"COME ON STEIN!" Sirius shouted. "JUST GRAB THE SNITCH ALREADY!"

"Sirius." Lily said for the umpteenth time that match. "Could you _please _stop shouting in my ear?"

"I'm not shouting in your ear, I'm just trying to get Seth to end the game. I'm bloody freezing."

"You're shouting in my ear."

"I am not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Ye-"

"Really?" Carlee said, turning to face the two of them. "Some of us are trying to enjoy the game. Switch places with me, Lily."

"Gladly." Lily said, leaning up against the rail and letting Carlee slide down the bench. Sirius had been shouting for the whole match and he was sitting directly behind her. No matter how many times she asked though, he wouldn't stop.

"NO, NO!"

"I told you." Lily said, leaning over towards Carlee.

"He gets overly excited about things. Besides, we are at a Quidditch game, he's allowed to yell."

"I know." Lily said. "But he was yelling in my ear. He gave me a headache." She rested her head on Carlee's shoulder.

"You'll be alright." Carlee said, patting Lily's knee.

"NO!" Remus and Sirius shouted at the same time, Lily flinched.

"Sorry." Remus said, noticing her discomfort.

"NO!" Sirius cried. "GRAB IS SETH!"

"AND THAT'S THE GAME LADIES AND WIZARDS." Josiah Smith's voice boomed throughout the stands. "LOOKS LIKE GRYFFINDOR ISN'T GOING TO WIN ALL OF THEIR MATCHES THIS YEAR."

"NO!" Sirius pounding his fist against the bench.

"It's just a game." Lily said. "We'll win the next one." Sirius huffed and then turned around and left.

"It's not just the game." Peter said. "He's worried about telling James."

Lily crinkled her brow. "I think he's got a lot more to worry about than a Quidditch game."

"Yes." Remus agreed. "But he's already upset, this isn't going to help."

"You don't think it would have helped," Carlee said. "If we won."

"No." Remus said. "But I don't want to have to tell him that we lost." Then he and Peter followed Sirius out of the stands.

"That's a bit farfetched, right?" Lily asked. "I mean, Potter isn't going to care about this. Not with his father in the hospital."

Carlee shrugged. "Grief works funny." She wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and started towards the stairs.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, linking arms with her.

"Well, sometimes," She bit her lip. "Sometimes it's easier to be angry about the little things. You know, because- well because… Huh."

"What?"

"I don't know why it's easier." Carlee said. "But it is. You get mad when people are a few minutes late, or when your ink runs out while you're using it, or when you trip over something someone left in the hall because you don't want to- to what? To deal with the bigger issue? To accept what is happening?"

"It's a coping strategy." Savanna said, coming up behind the two girls. Mary and Alice were with her. They had been sitting a few rows ahead of Carlee and Lily. "Sorry, I was listening."

"A coping strategy?"

"Yes." She said. "Mum made me got to a therapist after," She lowered her voice. "After my dad…"

"Right." Carlee said. "Well, anyway."

"Yes." Savanna said. "Anyway."

"Hogsmeade!" Mary said, almost shouted. The other girls laughed.

"What?" Alice asked.

"Not for you." Mary said. "But for us. We've got our first Hogsmeade trip tomorrow."

"Yes," Lily said. "But why did you shout it?"

"You two made it awkward, then I just blurted it out. It came out a bit louder than I wanted it to."

"I wish I could come with you." Alice sighed.

"That would be nice." Lily said. "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Homework?"

"I remember my days as a second year." Mary said, placing her hand over her heart. "Unable to venture down to the local village, it was a sad time."

"Shut up, Mary." Alice giggled, shoving her. "I get to go next year."

"Yes you do." Mary said. "And we'll know all the neat places to show you by then."

"Exactly." Carlee said.

The girls continued to make their way towards the castle, until Mary stopped walking.

"What are you doing?" Carlee asked.

"Let's just wait a second." Mary said. Lily tried to follow her gaze to see what was making her act this way, but she didn't see anything.

"Why?" Lily asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Mary said. Then she put a smile on her face and clapped her hands together. "I just forgot my scarf back at the pitch."

"Alright." Lily said. "We'll wait here."

"Mary," Alice said, her forehead crinkled in confusion. "You didn't bri-"

"Alice, why don't you come with me." Mary said, pulling Alice's arm.

"Are we just going to pretend that wasn't odd?" Savanna laughed.

"No." Lily said. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Carlee said, turning around to look where Mary had been looking. "I don't see anything."

"I didn't either." Lily said.

"Severus!" Mary yelled, jogging towards him. Luckily he was alone, leaning up against a small tree just outside the pitch. "Waiting for someone?"

"What do you want, McDonald?"

"You need to tell her." Mary said, getting straight to the point. "She needs to hear you say it, she won't listen to us."

"What are you talking about?" Severus asked.

"I'm confused as well." Alice said. "You just dragged me away from the others so we could get your scarf, which you didn't bring, and now we're talking to-"

"Shh." Mary said. "Severus," She sighed. "You need to tell Lily what's going on."

"Oh." Alice sighed. "I understand now. Mostly." Mary ignored her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Severus said. He pushed himself off the tree. "Now, if you'll excuse me-" Mary grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her.

"Rabastan and his cronies are hiding out in front of the castle waiting for her. You're going to go tell her what they are up to, or so help me-"

"What?" Severus asked. "You'll tell on me again? Because that worked out so well for you the last time."

Mary's face turned red and she dropped his arm. "You know, if I keep telling her all the bad stuff you do, eventually she's going to believe me."

"I don't do anything wrong." He said.

"Sitting back and watching your housemates pick on your best friends is wrong." She said. "Not warning her that she could be ambushed at any moment is wrong."

"You don't even know what you're talking about." He sneered.

"Yes we do." Alice said, stepping forward. "I heard you and Mulciber talking the other week."

"You don't know what you heard." He said, though his resolve seemed to be crumbling.

"Yes I do, and if you know that Lestrange is going to try and get Lily back for whatever she did to him, you need to tell her." Alice crossed her arms. "You don't want Lily to get hurt, do you?"

"Of course I don't!" He said, looking alarmed at the accusation. "She's my best friends!"

"Then maybe," Mary said, turning around. "You should start acting like you're her best friend." Alice cast one more frustrated look at Severus and then she spun on her heel and followed Mary.

"We should have done that a long time ago." Mary said, as she stalked back towards the place where their friends were waiting.

"Maybe." Alice said. "Do you think he'll listen to us?"

"Hopefully." Mary said. "If he doesn't, I'm going to make sure he spends at least a week in the hospital wing." Alice giggled.

"Mary," She said, trying to stop smiling. "That's not nice."

"I don't care." Mary said. "And I'm not joking. He doesn't get to treat Lily like this." Alice's smiled disappeared.

"I agree, but you can't really hurt him. You'll get into trouble."

"I don't care! Somebody has to do something!"

"Mary," Alice said grabbing her arm. "I know that you're upset but think about this. If you hex Snape, Lily is going to be upset with you. I don't know why, but Lily doesn't always think rationally when it comes to him. If you go about this the wrong way, you could lose her as a friend."

"That's not going to happen." Mary said. "I'll be discrete."

"Mary-"

"There you two are." Savanna said, walking up to them. "We were just about to go look for you."

"We're here." Mary said.

"No scarf?" Lily asked.

"I don't think I brought my scarf down here actually."

"You know, I don't remember seeing you with a scarf." Carlee said.

"Oh well. Sorry I wasted your time."

"Are you alright, Mary?" Lily asked. "You seem upset."

"Do I? That's odd. I'm okay." She said. "Why don't we head back to the castle now? I'm famished."

"Yes, alright." Lily said, exchanging looks with Carlee and Savanna. Mary marched on ahead of them, and they followed.

"Alice?" Savanna whispered. "What's wrong with her?" Alice looked at the back of Mary's head and sighed.

"Please don't ask me that." She said, dropping her gaze to the ground.

"Hey Lily!" Someone shouted from behind them. "Wait up!" All five of the girls turned to see Severus Snape running up to them.

"Sev, what is it?" Lily asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He said, stopping a short distance from the group. "It's just-" He looked at Mary, who was smiling victoriously. He coughed and looked away from her. "I need to talk to you."

oOoOo

Lily hadn't said anything all morning. She was sitting on her bed, already dressed and ready to go to Hogsmeade, watching all her roommates rush around. Arianna had misplaced the shoes she wanted to wear, Janis was searching frantically for her hairbrush and Bianca was standing in front of a mirror with a few different scarves seeing which one looked the best. Apparently you were supposed to look your absolute best when you went to Hogsmeade, but Lily couldn't find it in herself to care how she looked. She had brushed her hair, thrown on the first jumper she saw and a pair of old jeans.

She had tried to rationalize Severus's behavior. She had tried to go through and see what he did through his perspective, but she just didn't understand.

He had warned her yesterday. Warned her that Rabastan and some of the other Slytherins were trying to get her back for telling on Rabastan.

She was glad he had told her, but she was upset. She was upset because Alice had told her the same thing more than two weeks ago. Alice had told her that she had overheard Severus and Mulciber talking about it and Lily had got upset with her friends for trying to make her angry with Severus. She knew at the time that that wasn't what they were doing, but she didn't want to believe them. Now that he had told her the truth though, she felt like she owed her friends an apology. They were, after all, only looking out for her. They couldn't control what Severus did.

Mary came over and sat down on Lily's bed next to her.

"They're acting like chickens with their heads chopped off." She noted, watching Coral crawl under her bed to retrieve something she dropped.

Lily nodded. "Mary listen," She said turning to look at her friend.

"You don't have to, Lily." She said, giving her a small smile.

"I want to." She said. "I'm sorry about how I acted last year, and earlier this year. I had no excuse to think that you were lying to me, and I had no reason to get angry with you. You only had my best interest at heart. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Lily." Mary said. "He's your best friend, you were giving him the benefit of the doubt."

"No, I was just refusing to believe you." Lily said. "I won't do that anymore." She was done protecting him from her friends, she was done holding him on a pedestal. She had always known that he wasn't a saint, that he wasn't perfect, but she had always believed him above everyone else. She had always refused to hear anything said against him. He was still her best friend, but things were going to have to change.

"Are you okay?" Mary asked. Lily took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes. I'm upset, but I'm alright." She stood up and looked around the room. "Let's find Carlee and Savanna and get going."

oOoOo

"This is just blood great." Sirius said, falling onto a chair in the Three Broom Sticks. It was extremely crowed, but the Marauders had managed to get a table by tricking some Hufflepuff fifth year into thinking a boy was looking for her.

"What?" Peter said. "Are we still talking about James?"

"Of course we are." Sirius muttered.

"You said we were done talking about him." Peter said.

"Don't be insensitive, Pete."

"He's not being insensitive. You did say that." Remus said. "Should we get in line for Butterbeer?"

"Not all of us." Sirius said. "We'll lose our table."

"Okay, who wants to get in line for drinks?" He rephrased. Neither of the boys met his eye so he sighed and stood up. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"He has to be bored out of his mind." Sirius sighed. "Poor sod."

"James again, right? And I think you mean worried out of his mind." Peter said. "How much longer do you think he'll be gone? It's been ten days."

"He's not the only one who's still gone." Sirius shrugged. "And Dumbledore is giving them as much time as they need. He'll come back when his dad wakes up."

"I wish he'd write." Peter said.

"Me too." Sirius sighed. "It feels weird to be here without him." Peter nodded.

"I feel like we're in morning or something." Peter said.

"What?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I feel like we're not allowed to have too much fun until we know Mr. Potter is going to be okay."

"Me too." He picked up a saltshaker that was in the middle of the table and spun it. "Is that stupid?"

"I don't know. James is our best friend. We don't want him to lose his dad."

They stopped talking after that. Sirius spun the saltshaker and Peter drummed his fingers on the table. Sirius kept picturing James, alone in some corridor, waiting for his mum or some healer to come fetch him. He really wished there was something he could do to help him.

"You two need to calm down." Carlee said, walking up to them. "Seriously, Madam Rosemerta is going to throw you out of the pub." Sirius grinned at her.

"Hello, Carlee." He said. Peter waved.

"No really, are you two alright?"

"We're okay." Peter said. "It just feels weird."

"Oh." She said. "Right."

"We haven't heard from him since he left, and he didn't really say much before he left either." Sirius said. "I- we're just worried."

"Did you write to him?" Carlee asked. "Let him know that you're thinking of him?"

"We should." Sirius said.

"Probably." She nodded. "Don't wait for him to write to you. He's probably waiting for you to write him." Sirius looked up at her and tilted his head.

"Were you waiting?" He asked.

"What?" She asked, looking a bit too shocked for it to be genuine. "Of course not."

"Yes you were." Sirius said, feeling immensely guilty. Not only had he neglected to write to James who was alone at St. Mungo's right now, he had also neglected to write Carlee after he found out what had happened to her family last year. "I'm really sorry. We didn't know what to write and we were afraid to say the wrong thing."

"It's fine." She said, shifting around uncomfortably. "Besides, we're talking about James. I don't think there is a wrong thing to say. Just let him know that you're thinking about him, that you hope his dad gets better and don't mention that we lost the Quidditch match." She smirked. "Or if you do, tell him that it was because our team is completely lost without him."

Sirius laughed. "I might just do that."

"Also, I don't think James would want you all to sulk around like this. It's our first Hogsmeade trip, it sucks that he can't be here, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy it."

"Maybe." Sirius said. "It just feels wrong."

"Mr. Potter is going to be fine, James is going to be fine, but if he comes back and finds out that you three did nothing but mope about while he was gone, I don't think he's going to be very happy with you."

"She has a point." Peter said, looking at Sirius. He shrugged.

"Okay, well," She looked over her shoulder. "I'm going to go sit with the girls now. It looks like they found a table. I'll see you around."

"See you later." Peter said.

Remus returned a few minutes later with three Butterbeers and Sirius told him what Carlee had said.

"As soon as we get back." Remus said. "We'll write to him as soon as we get back."

"Yes." Sirius agreed. "And," He paused and looked both Peter and Remus in the eye. "We're going to have fun today."

* * *

**AN: Don't forget to leave me a review. I really appreciate them. :)**


	13. Good Friends

**AN: I'm sorry there was no update last weekend, I was swamped I almost couldn't update this weekend, but I felt guilty and I had already written the chapter, I just had to go through the edited version my beta sent me, so I sucked it up and here it is. I hope you like it, and I'm sorry in advance for the drama that ensues.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Good Friends**

On Sunday afternoon, while his friends were outside walking around Hogsmeade, James was sneaking into one of the laboratories on the hospital's third floor. In this particular laboratory there were lots of cages full of little white mice. These mice would be injected with poisons and then have potions tested on them to see if the potion was an effective way to stop the poison from killing the mouse. The lab sometimes got angry notes from animal activists or people who simply had moral issues with injecting animals with poisons. And once, when Joyce's mum was younger, she had sneaked into the lab and opened all the cages. This was what James was going to do.

Joyce had suggested the idea to James earlier in the day because they were both very bored with the monotonous atmosphere in the hospital. James was the one who had to actually carry out the prank itself because Joyce was incapable of walking at the moment since her legs still looked like small trees. Emery was blissfully unaware of the situation and neither James nor Joyce had any intention of telling her before it was over.

The room was easy enough to sneak into. It was Sunday and most of the researchers were not at work that day and those that were would not be coming in until later.

James told the healer in his dad's room that he was going up to the tearoom and he would be there if his mum was looking for him that was where he would be and then he walked out of the room, turned left twice and found a door labeled, 'Research Lab.' The door was unlocked, like most doors in the hospital, and so he was able to walk in without any sort of problem.

When he reached the large cage of mice, he pulled out his wand and muttered a simple charm to unlock the door. Once the cage was open, James jogged out, leaving the door to the room open as well, and rushed into Joyce's room.

"Did you do it?" She asked when he rushed through the doorway.

He didn't need to answer, because a second after she asked, there was a shriek.

"MICE!" Someone shouted. "THERE ARE MICE EVERYWHERE!" A healer ran by the door with her hands in the air, looking as though there was a dragon chasing after her, still shrieking.

Joyce started laughing, and James joined in. He hadn't felt this light-hearted in a while. He had been so worried about his dad, it felt really good to be able to laugh for a while.

"Are you two five years old?" Emery asked, walking in to the room and closing the door behind her.

"What are you talking about?" James asked.

"Here's a tip for you, when you want someone to think that you don't know what they're talking about, don't ask them what they are talking about."

"You know he's actually going to use that tip in the future, right?" Joyce laughed. "And calm down, Em. It was just for a laugh."

"Did you happen to see anyone's face, before you worked out that we were behind this?" James asked.

Emery looked at the two of them and shook her head. "Alright, fair enough. It made you both smile, it's just a joke, no one is going to get hurt. It's funny."

"Do you really think that?" Joyce said, trying not to laugh.

"No." Emery said. "But I'm trying to convince myself."

"Thanks." Joyce said. Then Emery pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

"You know, I'm not as much of a stickler as you two think I am."

"Really?" James asked. "Do you have proof of that?"

"Of course I do." Emery said. She reached her hand into her cloak pocket and drew from it a little white mice, wiggling about, trying in vain to escape. She tossed the mouse on Joyce's bed and Joyce started yelling.

"GET IT OFF!" She said, trying to move her wooden limbs away from the mouse.

James reached over and picked it up. "It's just a mouse, Joyce."

"Right?" Emery said. "She let you unleash hundreds of them on the poor innocent hospital, and she's deathly afraid of them."

"I wouldn't say deathly." Joyce said, straightening her sheets out. James looked at Emery who nodded. He put his hand that was holding the mouse out in front of Joyce and she screamed. "You're not funny, James." She said over both his and Emery's laughter. "Just keep the mouse away from me, please?"

"You're sure?" James asked, taking a step closer. Joyce wiggled away from him.

"This isn't really fair, I can't move very much."

"I think I'll keep him." James said. "He's pretty cute."

"I don't care what you do with him, but he's not allowed in my room." Joyce said. "So, goodbye." James shook his head but complied.

oOoOo

The girls were laughing as they walked the path that led back to Hogwarts. It had been a long exhausting day and they were tired. Because of that, they found everything a lot funnier than it actually was.

"I can't believe they did that!" Savanna said shaking her head, but not looking as though she was having a hard time believing anything..

"And the look on Mulciber's face!" Mary laughed.

"They shouldn't have done it." Lily said, though she was smiling as well.

"No," Savanna agreed. "They really shouldn't have."

"Oh please, the jerk deserved it." Carlee said.

"Maybe." Lily laughed. "He was being awfully rude to Arianna."

"What was that spell Sirius used?" Mary asked.

"I don't know." Carlee said. "But if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"If you ever do find out, half of the school will turn blue." Savanna giggled.

"It didn't hurt him." Mary said. "And it was funny. He was blue!" She started laughing again.

"Look!" Savanna said, pointing up towards the sky. "It's snowing!" She stopped walking and spun around. "I love the snow."

The other girls laughed, but joined in.

"Lily?"

Lily turned around and saw Severus walking toward her. Her smile fell off her face and she bit her lip.

"Sev." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "What do you want?"

"To talk to you." He said. The other girls had stopped playing in the snow and were all watching the exchange. Lily looked over at them and tilted her head.

"We're going to walk ahead." Carlee said, grabbing Mary's arm and giving her a tug. "Holler if you need us."

"What do you mean we're going to walk ahead?" Mary asked, keeping her eyes fixed on Severus.

"Exactly that." Carlee said, tugging her arm again. "We're walking ahead."

"Come on Mary." Savanna said. "Don't be difficult."

"I'm not being difficult." Mary said. "I just don't see how leaving her alone with _him_ makes us good friends."

Lily looked back at Severus and saw him clench his jaw together. He was going to say something mean if she didn't stop Mary. "Mary," She said, but then she looked back at Severus and closed her mouth. It wasn't her job to keep the peace between him and her other friends. Mary had many reasons to be upset with him, and she had every right to voice her opinions. Severus had messed things up, he had done something wrong, Lily didn't have to protect him from that. And she didn't have to prevent him from saying whatever he's like to say.

She looked back and Mary and smiled. "I can handle this. Thank you though." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus's head snap towards her. He had been expecting her to tell Mary to leave him alone.

"If you're sure." Mary said. She too seemed to be surprised by Lily's response.

"I am."

"Well, now that we've established that Lily can be alone with me without supervision, why don't you three just run along?" Mary scoffed and Lily ran a hand through her hair.

"They can do what they please." She said. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He looked at her, surprised again. He waited until Carlee, Mary and Savanna had started to walk before he said anything.

"What was that, Lils?" He asked, smiling slightly and shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I don't know, you have never acted like this." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh well, I've decided that I don't need to protect you from them. You're all able to think for yourselves. You don't need me to always explain to them what you mean when you say something, or act a certain way, or suddenly change plans on me, or when you get upset when I want to spend some time with them, or when you act like the Death Eaters aren't a big deal. You don't need me to make excuses for you when you hang around with people like Mulciber and Avery. Do you know why? Because you know exactly what all of that means. You know how other people think of the things you say and do, and you say and do them anyway."

"What are you going on about?" Severus said. "I don't say or do anything that needs explaining!"

"Really?" Lily said, crossing her arms. She could feel her face getting hot and her eyes were starting to sting. "So when you called me a Mudblood last year in front of Mary, that didn't need an explanation?" He tried to interrupt her, but she didn't let him. "And when you were talking to Mulciber outside the loo, going on about how Rabastan was going to get me back for what I did to him, that doesn't need an explanation?" She squeezed her eyes shut, determined not to cry in front of him, and let out a deep breath.

"Lily," Severus said, taking a step closer to her. "You know that I didn't call you a M- a you know what last year. We talked about that. Mary must have-"

"Lied? Made it up? Why would she do that?" Lily said, pounding her fists on her legs. "She's one of my best friends and she cares about me, why would she hurt me like that?"

"I _am_ your best friend." He said with a hard look in his eyes. "Why would I hurt you like that?"

"I don't know! Because you didn't think I would find out!" She shouted. "I don't know! I don't know why you think it's okay to only be my friend half of the time." She spun around and kicked at the ground.

"Lily, you're making no sense." He sighed.

"I'm making no sense? Sev, I'm upset- no. I'm angry."

"I see that. But what do you mean by I'm only your friend half of the time?"

"What do you think I mean?" She said, laughing humorlessly. "I mean you hide me when we're somewhere where we might run into some of your friends. Like in the library, we always sit in the very back, behind the bookshelves so that no one can see us."

"It's quiet back there and no one interu-"

"And when we go for walks, we always go around the back of the castle," She said, ignoring him. "Where no one else ever goes. When we eat together, we always go when the Great Hall is nearly empty. Do you think I don't notice these things? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course I don't. Lily, you need to calm down so we can talk about this reasonably."

"I am talking about this reasonably." She said, throwing her hands in the air. "Confronting you about this is the first reasonable thing I've done for a while." She walked over to the side of the path and sat down. The snow that had settled on the grass melted into her jeans, and they were going to be wet when she stood up, but she didn't care. Severus came over and sat down next to her.

"You think I'm a bad friend." He said. It wasn't a question, but Lily felt like it needed an answer.

"I always stand up for you. I always tell people to leave you alone and you never do that for me." A tear fell down her cheek and she brushed it away. "You're friends are always picking on me and calling me names and you don't do anything to stop them."

"Why do you think I can stop them?" He sighed.

"I didn't say that you _could_ stop them. I said you don't try."

"If I thought I could make them stop, I would." He said. "But I can't do anything."

"You don't do anything."

"Because it wouldn't make a difference."

"I would to me." Severus looked over at her.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? You're my friend. How would you feel if I just stood by and watched Mary make fun of you? How would you feel if I agreed with her and talked about you behind your back?" Severus blinked rapidly for a moment and then coughed.

"I told you that I didn't call you a you know what." Lily shook her head.

"You are completely missing the point."

"No I'm not. Why would you believe her over me?" He asked, trying to get her to look at him. "I'm your best friend, you should believe me."

"I should." Lily said quietly, nodding her head. "I know that. But I don't." She looked up at him and gave him a sad smile. "I don't believe you anymore. I want to. I try to. I try and make up excuses for you but I don't want to do that anymore. I shouldn't have to."

"You don't have to." He said angrily.

"No?" Lily asked. "So I should take your indifference towards the raids for what it really means then? That you don't care? I should understand that you not telling me that Rabastan is plotting some scheme against me means that you don't really care about me?"

"No! Lily stop!"

"I'm just trying to understand what's going through your head! And I'm tired of doing that. I shouldn't have to do that." Severus stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of her. He did it for so long that Lily didn't think he had anything more to say and stood up herself.

"I'm going to go catch up with my friends now." She said, brushing the snow off her pants.

"Wait, Lily," He reached out and grabbed her hand. "I do care about what's going on with the raids, but it's… it's scary." He said looking down at the ground. "I don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about all those people who come from the same background as you. I'm sorry if avoiding the subject makes it seem like I don't care, but I do." He looked up at her. "I just don't want that to happen to you, I don't want to think about how easily it could happen to you."

Lily sighed and pulled her hand away. "And your explanation for everything else?"

"Lily, I'm sorry." He said. "I'm really sorry."

"I know." She said. "It just seems like you're always sorry." He took a step back. She had surprised him again. She hadn't accepted his apology. "We can talk later." She said. "But I'm still really angry right now."

"Lily,"

"No, Severus." She said. "Just leave me alone for a while." She turned towards the castle and started walking away. She didn't want to. She wanted to turn around, hug him and tell him that everything was all right. That it didn't matter what anyone else said or did, but that wasn't the truth. The world was changing and she couldn't pretend anymore.

oOoOo

"Lily?" Carlee shouted, running down the corridor. "Lily, where are you?"

"Carlee?" Lily said, peeking her head around the corner. "What are you shouting for? I was just… clearing my head. That's all."

"Were you with anyone?" Carlee asked, looking much more anxious than the situation seemed to call for.

"No. I was with Severus and then I was upset, so I left and just walked round the castle for a bit."

"Damn, Lily."

"What?" Lily asked. "What's the problem?"

"You never told Professor McGonagall that your things were being stolen."

"So." Lily shrugged. "It stopped, I didn't think I needed to anymore."

"It's happened again." Carlee said.

"What's happened again? Stop being so secretive."

"Someone flooded the girl's bathroom on the first floor. And guess who's Herbology notes were found clogging the sink drain?"

"You have got to be joking. Someone flooded the washroom?" She leaned up against the wall and took a deep breath. "I don't want to deal with this right now."

"You don't really have a choice. Professor McGonagall's looking for you."

"First of all, why would I use my own notes to clog a sink? If I actually wanted to clog the sink, I would use blank parchment or someone else's notes. Not something that had my name on it! Secondly, Severus is a prat. Thirdly, McGonagall has to know that I didn't do it. Right?"

"Firstly, good point. Secondly, that's irrelevant but true. And thirdly, I don't know. She just wants to see you. Mary, Savanna, Alice and I have been looking all over the castle for the last half hour."

"Lily!"

"I found her!" Carlee called back. Savanna walked into the corridor and sighed in relief.

"Oh good. I had myself all worked up. I thought they might have kidnapped you or something. You know, to make it look like you were hiding."

"I was hiding." Lily sighed. "How do they do it? How do they know when I'm alone, and then not get caught themselves? It all seems too perfect to me."

"You do know what this means, right?" Savanna said, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"Yes, I do. You aren't going to let me out of your sight ever again."

"I'm sorry, but it's come to that." Savanna said.

"You know," Carlee laughed. "Sometimes you say things, and it sounds like you should be joking, but you're not."

"I'm not joking. I'm serious."

"I know." Carlee said. "It makes it even funnier."

"Can we not joke right now?" Lily asked, looking at Carlee. "Today has been an awful day, and I just want it to be over." She took a deep breath. "Is McGonagall in her office?"

"Yes." Savanna said. "Do you want me to walk you there?"

"No thanks." Lily said. "I'll go there by myself. There's not much more damage they can do today, is there?"

"I suppose not." Carlee said, before Savanna could argue. "Come on, let's go find Mary and Alice."

"Oh, alright." Savanna sighed. "Be careful, Lily."

"I will." She huffed. Then she took off down the corridor.

"This really isn't fair." Savanna said.

"Not even close." Carlee said. "Where was Mary supposed to look?"

"The next floor up." Savanna said.

"Let's go."

oOoOo

"So," Sirius said. "What do you think? Is Evans guilty?"

The boys were gathered in the Owlery, writing a letter to James. Well, Remus was actually doing all the writing. Sirius would add something he wanted Remus to include every now and then, same as Peter, but Sirius was also throwing owl pellets up to his and James' owl.

"Of course she's not." Remus said. "Why would she flood a washroom?"

"Why not? It's funny." Peter said.

"That's a good point." Sirius said, smirking at Peter. "Evan's couldn't have done it. She hasn't got any sense of humor."

"That's not nice." Remus sighed.

"Well, it's true."

"It may well be, but no need to be unkind."

"James wouldn't like it if he heard you talking like that." Peter said, trying to throw an owl pellet up to James' bird. He missed and it hit an owl next to it that was asleep. It woke up and gave a disgruntled hoot before flying over to a new post.

"What do you mean, Pete?" Sirius asked. "Why would James care what I say about Evans?"

"You're joking, right?" Remus laughed.

"No." Sirius put his box of owl pellets down and walked over to Remus. "Why would he care?"

"Because," Peter said. "He fancies her, doesn't he?" Sirius laughed.

"No he doesn't." Remus and Peter looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. "Oi, why are you doing that? He doesn't like her."

"Whatever you say, Sirius." Peter said.

"He doesn't."

"Why do you care so much?" Remus asked. Then he looked horror stricken and looked up at Sirius. "You don't like her, do you?"

"Of course I don't. And I wouldn't care if James did fancy her. He just doesn't." Remus nodded and went back to writing the letter, satisfied that he had nothing to worry about in that respects.

"Yes," Peter said. "He does."

"Has he told you that?" Sirius asked.

"No." Peter said. "But he doesn't need to."

"What do you mean?"

"He's always finding excuses to talk to her, and talk about her, going off about how much of a git Snape is and staring at her."

"He doesn't talk about her all the time or stare at her."

"Yes he does." Remus said, without looking up. "You blank it out when he talks about her. And you're too busy stuffing your face to notice much in the Great Hall."

Sirius looked back and forth between his two friends. "You two aren't pulling my leg, are you? You really honestly think that James fancies Lily?"

"What are we talking about in here?" The three boys jumped slightly and looked towards the door where Mary was standing. "James fancies Lily?"

"Of course he doesn't." Sirius said. "These two goons don't know what they're talking about."

"We don't." Remus said. "James doesn't fancy her, you're right Sirius. I don't know what Peter and I were thinking."

"Nice cover." Mary smirked. "Speaking of Lily, you haven't seen her, have you?"

"No, why?" Sirius asked.

"McGonagall's looking for her and we're supposed to find her."

"You're turning your friend in? That's cruel, McDonald."

"She doesn't even know that she's in trouble. I don't want her to be taken by surprise."

"Oh, so turning her in is helping her then?"

"I'm just going to tell her that McGonagall's looking for her. Then she can do with that what she pleases. And if she wants to hide better then I'll help- You know what. If you haven't seen her, then I'll just be on my way." She turned around to leave but Remus called her back.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?" He asked.

"Tell her what? That Sirius is a prat?"

"No, you can tell her that."

"I suspect she already knows." Remus laughed and nodded.

"No, the thing about James."

"Fancying her?" Mary shrugged. "If I'm being honest, I've already told her that. She doesn't believe me of course, but if you want me to promise not to tell her that his mates think he likes her, I can do that."

"Thanks."

"That's okay. And if you see Lily, let her know that I'm looking for her. I'll be on the sixth floor."

"Alright."

When she was gone, Sirius clicked his tongue. "So he really likes her?"

"Seems like it." Remus said.

"But why?" He asked. "I mean, she's always yelling at us, and telling us to behave and hanging around with Snivellus."

"I don't know why he likes her, Sirius." Remus sighed. "Just help me finish this letter."

"Well maybe we should tell him that Lily says hello or something." Sirius said. "If he fancies her, that would cheer him up."

"It would also be lying." Remus said. "So we're not going to do that."

"It was just a suggestion."

"I'll just say we hope he gets a chance to write back soon." He scratched a few more words at the bottom of the parchment and then rolled it up and tossed it to Sirius.

"Come on down here, Kevin." Sirius called up to James' owl.

"You aren't going to give him a hard time about liking her, are you?" Peter asked.

Sirius finished tying the parchment to the owl and then laughed. "Not right now. I'm not a horrible friend. But eventually, of course I am."

"Sirius," Remus sighed. "You're a git, you know that?"

"I'm not a git."

"Yes you are." Peter said. "We can never tell you anymore of James' secrets."

"Yes you can." Sirius said. "We're his best mates, we're supposed to give him a hard time. I mean, what have you two been doing with this piece of information? Why haven't you been laying into him about it?"

"This is why you're a git." Remus said, shaking his head. "You're not supposed to make fun of your best mate because he likes a girl."

"You do if the bird he likes is Evans." Sirius laughed. "Come on, Evans?"

"Yes." Peter and Remus said at the same time.

"I still think you two don't know what you're talking about."

"Good." Peter said. "You can shut up about it now. And don't tell James we told you."

"Good thinking." Remus said. "Don't tell him. You can make him hate you if you want, but I actually like being James' friend."

"I won't tell him, but he doesn't like her."

"Okay, Sirius. Whatever you say." Peter sighed.

* * *

**AN: Reviews are appreciated, I've been getting follows and favorites, which is great, but the last two chapters haven't had any reviews and it's kind of disheartening. So if you could spare the time, just tell me what you're thinking. :)**


	14. Mornings and Detention

**AN: I apologize. So much for every two weeks. College is demanding, what else can I say?**

**Thank**** you all so much for the reviews, they were lovely and I love them.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Mornings and Detention**

Lily hadn't been asked any questions this time. McGonagall hadn't been interested in where she had been or who she was with, or if the notes were actually hers. She invited Lily to sit down, offered her a biscuit and then told her what had happened. When she had finished telling Lily how Lily had actually been the one to flood the loo, Dumbledore entered the room and asked Lily to go and wait in the corridor while he talked with McGonagall.

That's where she was now, sitting on the floor of the corridor outside McGonagall's office. She wasn't worried about being in trouble, she knew that the professors were aware that she hadn't done it. She honestly wasn't thinking much about the flooding at all. No one had been hurt, it hadn't caused any damage that couldn't be fixed, it was really just a nuisance and Lily couldn't find it in herself to care.

She was too busy thinking about Severus to think about very much else.

Sitting there on the cold floor, with nothing to do but stare at the wall gave her far too much time to think about Severus. She wanted- no, she _needed_ to be doing something right now. She needed to start her astronomy homework, finish her potions essay, make up some dreams for divination, she couldn't just sit here.

Though, she couldn't leave. The professors had told her to wait in the corridor.

Since burying herself in homework wasn't an option at the moment, she started tapping her foot. This quickly turned into her tapping both feet. The sound of her shoes striking the floor at a fast even pace was starting to make her feel anxious and so she let out a frustrated breath and pushed herself into a standing position.

Severus had been wrong, she thought as she started pacing back and forth in front of the door. He had been wrong because he had lied to her, he had treated her poorly, he wasn't acting like he was her friend and he had been in on Rabastan's plan to get back at her and he hadn't said anything to her about it.

He had apologized though, he had said he was sorry and he had explained quite a bit.

That didn't make it excusable though. He had given a good explanation for why he didn't talk about the Raiders, but what about all the other stuff? He didn't get off the hook simply because he was sorry. Right?

"Lily?" Professor Dumbledore drew her out of her thoughts with his unusually stern voice. "Will you come back inside, please?"

"Yes, Professor." She said. He nodded and stepped back into McGonagall's office. Lily shook her head, trying to get all thoughts of Severus from her mind. She didn't have time to think about him. She had more pressing issues at hand. She had to deal with the flooding incident right now.

She walked into the office and looked up at Professor McGonagall.

"Lily," She said. "Is there any chance that you were the one who flooded the toilet?"

"What?" Lily said. "Of course not. Why would I flood a loo?"

"I was giving you a chance to confess. You have to understand, good behavior only goes so far." She said, pressing her lips together. Lily looked between Dumbledore and McGonagall. Dumbledore wasn't looking at her, but at a painting that was hung on the back wall, and McGonagall looked as though she would rather be anywhere else at the moment.

"Good behavior?" Lily asked quietly. "What do you mean?"

"This is the second time that your personal artifacts have been found near an act of vandalism." McGonagall said. "This kind of evidence cannot be overlooked."

Lily felt here heart suddenly beating rapidly as she realized what was going on. They _did_ think she was responsible for this. They think she flooded a damn toilet. She was going to get punished.

"Professor," She said shakily. "You have to listen to me-"

"Lily, there are rules that are set in this school for a reason. We wish to avoid chaos and-"

"But Professor!"

"Do not interrupt me, Lily." McGonagall said sternly. "You will serve detention for the next three weekends. If anything happens like this again, we will be forced to take further action."

Lily stood there for a moment, her mouth slightly open, feeling trapped and helpless. "I didn't do it." She said quietly.

"That is all, you may go now." McGonagall said. Lily looked over at Dumbledore, who was still examining the painting on the back wall, appearing almost uninterested in the whole affair. She suddenly felt embarrassed. Her professors, two people she looked up to a great deal, thought that she had carried out some petty prank. She felt her cheeks go red and she ducked her head.

"It won't happen again." She said quietly. Then she turned around and all but ran from the office.

"Wait…what?" Carlee whispered. It was past ten when Lily finally sneaked into her dormitory room and Carlee was the only girl who hadn't gone to sleep yet. The girls were sitting in Carlee's bed with the hangings drawn shut, whispering so not to wake the other girls. "You got detention?"

Lily nodded. "I didn't do it, Carlee." She said, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I really didn't, and they think I did."

"Why would they think you did it?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Lily said. "I mean, first my badge was found next to that parchment, then my notes are used to clog a sink drain, they can't just give me the benefit of the doubt all the time."

"But the very idea that you would do something like this is just ridiculous." Carlee said.

"Obviously." Lily sighed, she closed her eyes. "Today was just awful."

"I'm really sorry, Lily." Carlee said. "First Sev and now this."

"Sev." Lily muttered. "What am I going to do about him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's still my friend. I can't just not talk to him anymore. Even if I could, he's also my neighbor. I doubt it would be easy to avoid him all summer unless I never left the house or went and stayed in Leyton with my Grandmother."

"It sounds like you've given some thought to this." Carlee grinned.

"At first." Lily said. "But I decided that that was the childish way out."

"I wouldn't say it's a bad plan." Carlee said. "There are worse ways to deal with the situation."

"Sure." Lily said. "I could hex him until he's green and sprouting tentacles all over his face."

"You've thought about that one too, haven't you?"

"Just a little bit." Lily nodded. "I'm rather confused."

"I can understand that."

"I mean, he's one of my best friends and I just can't believe he would keep something like that from me." She sighed again and fell back so that she was laying down. "And while we're on the subject of how awful of a friend he is, he also hides me from his other friends, talks badly about me when I'm not around and lets his friends say whatever they want about me."

Carlee sighed and lay down next to her.

"What should I do?"

"I don't know, Lils."

"What would you do? If you were me?"

"I'd have punched him."

"No you wouldn't have."

"Sure I would've."

"Yes, okay. You probably would have." Lily laughed. "But that's not really an option for me."

"No kidding." Carlee said. "Though, you are a bad kid now. Maybe you could give it a try."

"I'm a fake bad kid." Lily said. "I didn't actually do anything that was worth getting detention over."

"Well then, do something that's worth getting detention over. You shouldn't get punished for nothing."

"That's horrible advice." Lily giggled.

"I don't think so."

"It is, trust me."

"Maybe. But I made you feel better, yes?"

Lily nodded. "I suppose so." She yawned. "It's been a long day and I have a feeling tomorrow isn't going to be a field full of daisies either."

"Right. Time to hit the hay."

"And for those of us from the other side of the Atlantic , it's time to turn in." Lily said.

"You knew what I meant." Carlee shrugged. "Now get off my bed."

"Goodnight to you too." Lily said, shaking her head. She got off of Carlee's bed and tiptoed over to her own. It was close to eleven now and she didn't want to waste anymore of her night thinking about Severus or detention. It took her a while, but eventually she was able to clear her mind and fell asleep.

oOoOo

James had fallen asleep with his head resting on the edge of his dad's hospital bed about eleven, and he had woken up with a very sore neck at six in the morning. It was very quiet in the hospital at that time, quieter than usual. He straightened his glasses and looked around the room, blinking a few times to let his eyes adjust to the light coming in through the window. It looked as if it was nice out, but James couldn't remember if it was a real window or one of the fake windows installed to look like a real one. He walked over to the window, stretching out his sore limbs as he went, and opened it to see if it was real. It opened, and a breeze came through along with a very agitated owl.

"Karl?" James asked, crinkling his brow. "What are you doing here? Did the boys send you?" He looked down and saw a letter tied to his owl's foot, and sure enough, the address on the letter was in Remus's familiar scrawl. "It's about time they got in touch with me on me." He muttered as he untied the letter. Though he wasn't really upset with them, he was just glad for the distraction.

The letter was a bit awkward, but James didn't mind. He found it amusing that Remus was having difficulty in finding words. He found some parchment on the table near his dad's bed, and went out in the corridor to ask a healer for a quill and then wrote them a quick reply.

"There you go, Karl." James said, tying the note to the owl. "Don't worry, I told them to give you a handful of treats when you get back." The owl hooted and flew out of the open window.

"James?" He spun around so fast that he bumped into the bedside table, knocking a vase of flowers to the floor. He didn't seem to notice though.

"Dad?" He whispered, taking a step towards him.

"Where am I?" He asked, looking around the room. Recognition dawned on his face and then confusion. "Why am I here?"

"You were sick dad." James said. What should he do? Should he call a healer, send someone to find his mum? Where was his mum? Was she still at work? He shook his head. "Everyone who was supposed to vote got sick, there was some sort of attack."

"A Raider attack?"

"That's what the aurors are saying." James nodded. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"Some water would be nice." He said before coughing weakly. James nodded, and grabbed his half-empty cup of water from the counter near the door.

"I'm going to get a healer." James said after handing his dad the water. Charles nodded.

James came back a few minutes later with Alice's mum, Beth, who had taken Charles's case after she had come back to work herself.

"Well, you're the last to wake up, but better late than never." She laughed, a relieved sounding laugh that fit James' mood perfectly.

"Was anyone seriously injured?" He asked. Beth looked down at her hands and nodded.

"Four people didn't make it, Charles." She said. "Clancy, Harold, Richard and Jonah. She was the woman who was supervising the vote. There was nothing anyone could do for them."

"Clancy? Harold? Rich…" Charles covered his face in his hands. Beth and James stayed silent and let him take in the news. It had to be a shock. Richard had been coming around for dinner since James was three or four, Clancy used to watch him for his parents and her husband Harold, he used to go to Quidditch games with James and his dad. "Clancy? I thought you said it was an attack on-"

"The voters." Beth sighed. "It was. Clancy was there because Harold had left something at home or in her office or something. I don't know. She wasn't supposed to be there."

"Jonah too?" Charles asked. "It was my fault she was even in the room. She had wanted to postpone the vote a few days, but I had said it was better to just get the whole thing over and done with. I was afraid that people were going to start changing their minds, or that they would be threatened."

"None of this is your fault. You were just trying to do the right thing."

"I don't remember anything about that day. Did we even vote?"

"No." Beth said. "They rescheduled the vote for last Thursday. Only half the original voters were there and I don't know how they voted."

"What do you mean? If it was last week-"

"They haven't told us anything yet." She shrugged.

"They've hinted." James spoke up. Beth and Charles looked up at him. "The Prophet, it hasn't said anything outright, but it doesn't sound good."

"Damn." Charles muttered. "Where's Liza?"

"She was called into work." Beth said, she cast a glance over at James.

"That's all right. He can hear this." James was a bit surprised by this reaction, he was usually asked to leave the room.

"Liza told me that they're closing in on a few Raiders. She thinks they've found a hideout, and she's been in a meeting with Moody for the last," She looked down at her watch. "Two hours now. She came and found me just before she left around five."

"A hideout? How did they manage that?"

"After the attack, a few Raiders were a bit careless. Three more have been arrested."

"Why wasn't in the papers?" James asked.

"Well, the Raiders read the Prophet too, we're assuming. The aurors don't want the others to know that they've captured three more."

"That's sensible." Charles said. "Do you know when she's getting out of the meeting?"

"She said she'd be back about nine." Beth said.

"And what time is it now?"

"Seven thirty."

"Marvelous." Charles sighed. "Well, alright. Is there any chance of some breakfast?"

"Of course. I'll be right back." Beth smiled. She left the room and Charles looked over at James.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Thanks, dad." James chuckled.

"You know what I mean. You're supposed to be in school."

"I never do what I'm supposed to." James shrugged. Then he sighed. "Dumbledore let all the kids whose parents… went under, go home and be with their families."

"So you just sat in here with me, while I was unconscious?" Charles snorted. "That must have been difficult for you."

"I broke into the research lab yesterday and let all the mice out of their cages." James said. "But no one knows it was me, so mum's the word."

His dad looked at him for a moment with a straight face and then chucked and shook his head. "I expect you to be more original next time, that's already been done."

"I know. Joyce's mum had done it before."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me. Joyce, not her mum."

"Joyce Camry? Isn't she training to be an auror?"

"Yep. She got attacked while doing some work for Equal Magic and now she's slowly turning into a tree."

"That's unfortunate." Charles said gravely.

"She's fine. The cure just takes a while."

"Well, then it's kind of humorous."

"Yeah." James smiled. "I'm really glad you're okay, dad." Charles smiled.

"I'm really glad I'm okay too."

oOoOo

"I just can't believe she gave you three weeks of detention for something you didn't do!" Mary said, while the girls walked back to the castle after attending their Care of Magical Creatures class. Mary had been repeating that sentence all morning, ever since Lily had told her what had happened last night. "I mean, honestly."

"We get it Mary. You can't believe it." Carlee said. "You've told us a few times."

"Well-"

"Honestly." Savanna sighed. "We know. You've said it about forty times."

"I was going to say something new." Mary said, putting her hands on her hips. The three girls turned their heads and waited. "I was going to say that I am thinking about going to speak to McGonagall myself."

"A fat lot of good that will do." Lily shrugged. "So please don't. You'll only embarrass me further."

"What? Why are you embarrassed?"

"Why wouldn't I be? McGonagall and Dumbledore both think that I flooded the loo."

"But you didn't." Carlee said. "And they can't really think that you did it."

"You three keep saying that, but they wouldn't have given me detention if they didn't think that I was behind it." She turned to Carlee. "You're sitting next to me in Arithmancy, right?"

"No." Carlee said. "I'm going to let Severus sit by to you."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Lily said. "I was just asking."

"Yes, Lily. I will sit next to you."

"Thank you."

"I'm going to go find someone new to complain to." Mary said. "Since I have a free period and you three don't."

"You do that." Savanna said. "Just make sure they don't know that you're going to repeat yourself the entire time or they'll run away before you can lure them in."

Mary stuck out her tongue and walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Oi! McDonald, hold up!" Sirius and Peter rushed past the other three girls.

"Sorry about them." Remus said. "And I'm sorry about what happened." He said, looking at Lily. "I tried to convince Sirius to take the blame for you."

"Oh no. Thank you, but I don't want to be in his debt."

Remus laughed. "That's actually pretty smart I think. He would hold that over you for as long as he could."

"It's not a bad idea though." Carlee said. "I could take the blame for you."

"No." Lily said. "Really, it's fine. If anyone's going to take the blame for me it should be the person who actually did it."

"I wish there was some way we could find out who did it."

"Well, I think we have a pretty good idea." Carlee said. "All we're lacking is the proof."

"What?"

"Rabastan!" Carlee said. "Who else would frame Lily?"

"You think this is Rabastan's revenge?" Lily asked. The thought had occurred to her before, but she didn't think Rabastan would consider three weekends of detention punishment enough for what Lily had done to him.

"What other explanation is there?" She asked.

"Okay, but don't you think it's a little… tame?" She shrugged.

"Maybe. We should get to class though, we've only got five minutes."

"Oh darn." Savanna said. "Come on, Remus. We'll have to hurry."

"I'm glad I didn't take Ancient Runes." Carlee said.

"Me too. It seems like a very difficult class."

"That's not it. It's all the way on the sixth floor, and that's quite a hike from Care of Magical Creatures." Lily laughed. "What? I don't like being rushed when I'm walking to my classes."

"Or walking long distances."

"That's not true."

"A few days ago you said you wanted to be in Hufflepuff because their common room is closer to the Great Hall."

"Shh." Carlee said, looking around. "That was said in the strictest confidence."

"Whatever you say."

"I heard that." The girls jumped slightly and turned around to see James walking slightly behind them. "And if you promise not to say anything to my parents or Sirius, I agree with you. It would be convenient."

"James?" Carlee said, looking at him as though she wasn't entirely sure if he was there or not. "James!" She threw her arms around him. "You're back? Does that mean that your dad's better? When did you get in?"

"Take a deep breath." James said.

"Right, sorry." She took a mock deep breath and then motioned for him to talk. James ignored her and looked at Lily.

"No hug from you, Evans?"

"Not likely." She said, though she couldn't help but smile a bit. "Your dad is better then?"

"Yes." James nodded. "He woke up this morning and then my mum brought me back here a couple hours after that. Dumbledore walked with me from Hogsmeade and I had just enough time to run up to my room before class."

"Your dad woke up today and you're already back in class?" Carlee said.

"Yes." James nodded. "It seems strange to me. I get to spend eleven and a half days in the hospital while my dad's unconscious but the minute he wakes up, I get sent back to Hogwarts." He shook his head. "But he really is okay. He's going to be up and about in a day or so, but I doubt he'll wait that long before he dives back into work again."

"You mean before he tries to work out what happened with the vote?" Lily asked. James nodded. "Alice is really worried about her mum."

"She's fine." James said. "I saw her this morning. What's she worried about?"

"She's afraid of another attack." Lily said. "Mrs. Fortescue voted, and I doubt she voted to keep muggles out of St. Mungo's."

"She didn't." James said. "But I don't think it's going to matter what she voted."

"You think the vote went south?"

"What?" James asked.

"Sorry," Carlee sighed. "I mean, do you think they voted to keep muggles out of St. Mungo's." James looked at Lily who shrugged.

"She's been doing that a lot lately."

"Doing what?" Carlee asked.

"Talking like an American."

"I am an American."

"Anyway," James said. "That is what I think. That they voted to keep muggles out."

"But they can't do that." Lily said. They had reached the classroom and Lily paused for a moment in the doorway. Severus was sitting in his usual spot in the front row, her seat was empty and next to him. She felt her heartbeat quicken slightly and she ducked her head and walked after Carlee.

"I know they can't." James said. "And I don't know how they think it's going to work. I'm not really too worried about it. My mum and dad will fix it."

Lily nodded and sat down. James raised an eyebrow at her and then looked over at Severus and Lily pretended that she didn't notice.

"Why are you- Ow!"

"So what did you do for the eleven and a half days you were in the hospital?" Carlee asked, looking innocently at James, who was glaring at her. Lily, still pretending that she didn't notice anything, looked at James with mild interest.

"I didn't do much until… I think it was Friday. I was taking a walk and I found Joyce and Emery."

"What were they doing in the hospital?" Lily asked.

"Joyce had been attacked. Nothing serious." He said quickly. "She was pretty entertaining for someone who was bedridden though."

"And Emery?" Carlee asked.

"She was just there with Joyce."

Professor Vector walked in and waved his wand at the board. "Group work today. Have these five problems finished by the end of class."

"Well this should be interesting." James sighed, squinting up at the board. "I haven't been here for a week."

"We'll help you." Carlee said, both offering help and letting James know that Lily was going to be joining them. James opened his mouth to say something else but Lily cut him off.

"You can copy my notes later if you want." James shut his mouth and looked at Carlee who narrowed her eyes and gave him a 'I'll tell you later' look.

"That would be great." James said with a smile. "But I have a question for you."

"What?" Lily asked, looking over at Severus, who had his head drooped over his paper, already working on the problems alone. It was then that Lily realized that she had chosen to sit with James Potter over Sev. He was probably upset with her. Instead of feeling guilty, she smirked. It made her feel a little better to know that he was upset too.

"Are you only being nice to me because my dad was sick? Because I don't want your pity." He sounded much more serious than he probably was so Lily rolled her eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not being nice to you." James raised his eyebrows. "I'm being polite, there's a difference."

"Of course." James said.

"Hullo Lily." Arianna Kaye said, walking up to the group's table with Frank. "And James, welcome back."

"Thanks." James nodded.

"When did you get here?" Frank asked. "I didn't see you before."

"I got here about twenty minutes ago." James said. "Two hours after my dad woke up."

"He's alright then?" Arianna asked.

"Yes. He's still recovering, but he's alright."

"That's good." Frank said.

"I heard about what happened, Lily." Arianna said, switching tracks to what seemed to be her main reason for coming over to the table.

"What happened?" James and Frank asked at the same time.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one without all the information." James laughed.

"Lily was framed." Arianna said dramatically.

"Oh don't make such a fuss over it." Lily said. "It was just a misunderstanding."

"The second misunderstanding in a month." Carlee muttered.

"A girls' toilet was flooded, and Lily got detention for it." Arianna said. "It's completely ridiculous. Everyone knows that you would never do anything like that." She said, looking at Lily.

"You sound like you've been talking to Mary." Lily sighed. "Look, the sink was clogged with my notes. What were the professors supposed to think?"

"That Sirius did it." James said quickly. "That some bloody first year found your notes and stuffed them in the sink. Why would they think that you did it?"

"My name was on the parchment." Lily said slowly.

"And?" James said. "That sounds like something Sirius would do, McGonagall should give him detention before you."

"Well, she didn't." Carlee said. "And Remus already tried to get Sirius to take the blame for Lily, but he won't."

"Why's he being a prat about it? What does he care about getting detention?" He looked at Lily. "I'd tell her I did it, but I don't think she'd believe me." Lily shook her head.

"Can we talk about something else?" She asked. "Like the problems that we have to finish before class ends."

"Sure." James shrugged. "I think I know how to do the first half of the second one."

"Great." Carlee said. "Because I think I know how to do the second half." Lily laughed.

"And I know how to do the first one."

"That's helpful." James said. "Can you tell me what that first symbol means?"

"This is going to be difficult for you." Lily said.

"Maybe a bit."

* * *

**AN: I'm working on the next chapter already, but I'm not going to make any promises. I finished this one because I'm currently on spring break. I'm going to try and get some more done before I go back to school, but we'll see. **

**Anyway, reviews are wonderful. :)**


	15. Lady Love and Ex-Mates

**AN: Good news, schools almost over and then I will devote enough time to this to finished it before the end of the summer, maybe even before the end of June, because I'm quite excited to start fourth year. Bad news, I don't know if there will be another update this month. **

**Thanks for being patient. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. It was fun to write.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Lady Love and Ex-Mates**

The Marauders were walking down the corridor, on their way to the Great Hall for lunch, when James came striding up behind them and swatted Sirius and Remus on the backs of their heads.

"Oi!" Sirius yelled indigently. "Who the bloody hell-"

"You're all rotten mates, just so you know." James said. The three boys turned around, all looking equally shocked when they saw who it was that was standing behind them. "I was gone for nine whole days, and you twits sent me _one_ letter. Which I got a few hours before I came back here."

Sirius was the first to recover from the shock of James' sudden appearance. "We didn't have to send you any letters, git."

"Prat." James replied quickly.

"Wait." Remus said, holding his hands up when he saw Sirius open his mouth to toss out another insult. "When did you get back?"

"About an hour ago." James grinned. "Had to go to class though, otherwise I would've come and found you lot."

"You didn't have to go to class." Sirius said, shaking his head. "Peter and I had a free period. You could have come and found us."

"I had to go to class. I had already missed a week's worth of Arithmancy. I don't know how I'm going to catch up. I'll probably be up late all week doing homework."

"What was one more day?" Peter asked. "Honestly?"

James shook his head and sighed. "If I'm being honest here," He said, looking at Peter. "I wasn't going to go; I was going to find you."

"You were_ going_ to?" Sirius scoffed.

"Of course I was." James said, clapping Sirius on the back. "I missed you terribly, didn't I?"

"Then why didn't you?" Peter asked. "Come find us, I mean."

"Because," He said, drawing out the word into three syllables and sounding overly exasperated. "I ran into Carlee and Evans, who were on their way to Arithmancy." James said. Then he ducked his head ever so slightly and started talking rapidly. "I mean, I still could have gone and found you I suppose, but I didn't really fancy getting nagged by Evans you know? I mean, she's always looking for a reason to shout at me, isn't she? I wasn't just going to hand her one on a plate. Plus Carlee was there, and she didn't seem too keen on me leaving her-"

"You ran into Lily?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow and casting Sirius a pointed look.

"You put off seeing me for a bird?" Sirius asked, pretending he hadn't seen the look Remus was giving him.

"He put off seeing us for _two _birds." Peter scoffed, shaking his head. "Are you sure that you missed us at all?"

"I put off seeing you for _class_." James sighed. "For class. Not for a girl. Not for any number of girls." He started walking ahead of them. "Let's go and get some lunch. Hospital food really food is really dull compared to the elves' masterpieces."

"So…" Remus started, looking expectantly at James. When said boy didn't start talking, Remus elaborated. "Aren't you going to tell us what happened?"

"There's not much to tell." James shrugged. "My dad's okay now, I suppose. He woke up early this morning and then I was whisked back to school."

"That's great." Remus said. "That he's alright I mean."

"Yes." James nodded. "I was… really worried."

"Of course you were." Peter said. "He's your dad."

"But he's alright now." Sirius said. "No more need to worry."

"Right." James grinned. "He is alright now." He sighed and his shoulders slackened a bit. "It doesn't seem quite real yet. I mean, I know that he's woken up, that he's fine, but I still feel on edge about the whole thing."

"That's understandable." Peter said, wringing his hands but trying to look James in the eye. "You spent a long time in the hospital and then things changed very quickly. You'll feel better by tomorrow."

"I hope so." James said. "Because I seriously don't like feeling like this."

"Would you like us to cause some sort of distraction?" Sirius asked with a playful smirk playing on his lips.

"I'd be up for that." Peter said at the same time that Remus sighed.

"I suppose I'd be up for it as well. Nothing too big though-"

"Like flooding a loo?" James asked.

"Nah, that's already been done this week." Sirius said. "We don't want to look like copy cats."

"Heard about that already, did you?" Peter asked. "Were people harassing Evans for it?"

"No." James said. "Kaye actually seemed rather put out that the professors even thought that Evans had done it."

"Kaye?" Sirius asked. "Which one is she?"

"Arianna Kaye. The dark haired one that mutters angry Welsh under her breath." Peter said. When Sirius still looked confused about who the girl was he added, "She told off Stephen last week in potions for-"

"Ah!" Sirius exclaimed. "She had to be partners with the sod. I remember her now. Told him to just sit there and let her do everything after he caused their potion to explode."

"A second time." Peter snickered.

"It really wasn't his fault." Remus said, trying not to smile himself. "I mean, the second time it was, but the first time it was your fault." He said looking at Sirius. "You're the one who switched his crushed newt's feet with frog's feet."

"And the lace flies for beetles." Peter said.

"It was his own fault," Sirius shrugged. "He wasn't paying attention to what he was putting in his cauldron. Though, I did feel bad for Kaye after a while."

"Not bad enough to remember her name." Remus said. "But you did leave her alone after that."

"As amusing as this is," James said. "It's a bit off topic. We all know that Evans didn't flood the loo. So who did?"

"Hell if we know." Sirius shrugged. "It wasn't us, and no one's been bragging about it so…"

"Carlee has a theory." Remus said. "She thinks it was Rabastan."

"What? Why would Rabastan flood a loo?" Sirius snorted. "I mean, it's not as though he's one to do things just for a laugh. Well, not things that would make sane, non-psychopathic people laugh."

"And it was the girls' loo." Peter said. "I don't think Rabastan would just decide to flood any loo, but especially not the girls'."

"Carlee seems to think that Rabastan is trying to frame Lily for various things. Like the Death Eater propaganda that was hanging in the corridor a while ago, her badge was found near it. And her notes were used to clog the sink drain. If Rabastan isn't trying to frame her, I think it's safe to assume that someone else is."

"Why would he want to frame her?" James asked. "I mean, I know he doesn't like her, but why go through all the trouble of making it look like she did these things?"

"Because the last time he hexed her he got detention for almost an entire month and we hexedhim." Sirius said. "The berk has to act a bit more craftily now."

"We have to stop him." James announced. "She shouldn't be getting into trouble because of him." Sirius actually took notice to the grin Peter was wearing now and shook his head.

"Look mate," He sighed, putting an arm around James' shoulders. "Remus and Peter told me that you fa-"

"Oi!" Remus shouted, grabbing Sirius's arm and pulling him away from James. "You promised you wouldn't say anything!"

"I did no such thing." Sirius said, yanking his arm out of Remus's grasp. "And if I'm going to be a rotten mate to James, I might as well be a rotten mate to Peter and you as well."

"You said you wouldn't tell him that we told you." Remus said.

"Then I'll tell him that we were all speculating together and just worked it out."

"You know that I can hear both of you. What are you going on about?" James asked, eyeing Peter who was looking at James as though he had suddenly turned green and scaly. "And what are you looking at me like that for?"

"Like I was saying," Sirius said, raising his voice over Remus's protests. "The lads and I were talking about it, and we've come to the conclusion that you fancy a certain redhead. And while that's all well and good, you have to understand that the rest of us _don't_ fancy her. So we, and by 'we' I mean 'I', don't want to be rushing to her rescue all the time."

James looked at Sirius with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open slightly. "I- Wh- I-" He scoffed and tried to laugh, but it sounded forced and made Sirius's grin smug. "I do not fancy Evans." He finally managed to get out. "What gave you dunderheads that idea?"

"See," Remus said forcefully. "He doesn't like her. Let's drop this issue and go to lunch." Peter nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, let's leave him alone."

"It's alright, James." Sirius said, slinging his arm back around James, who quickly shrugged it off. "Really, you can like whoever you want."

"Obviously." James sneered. "But why would I like Evans?" His voice dropped when he said her name and he looked around to make sure that no one could hear what they were saying.

"We're not judging you." Sirius said, putting his hands up as if to prove it. "And I only just worked out that you like her, I have no bloody clue _why_. It doesn't make any sense at all to me. And if Remus and Peter hadn't pointed it out to me, I probably wouldn't have noticed at all."

"Oh dear." Remus whispered, shaking his head.

"Remus and Peter?" James asked, glaring at the offending parties. "They told you that I like, Evans? Why did they do that?"

"We thought he knew." Remus said, lifting his hand to his forehead. "And for Merlin's sake, if I knew it was going to give me this much of a headache, I wouldn't have said anything at all."

"It's not true though." James said. "I don't fan-"

"Yes you do." Peter sighed and James' cheeks went red. "Denying it isn't going to stop Sirius from laying into you. Now, what do you want to do about Rabastan? I'm thinking we should catch him in the act before we simply assume that it was him."

"That's probably best." Remus agreed. "We could work out some kind of schedule for the four of us to follow him around."

"We could take turns using the cloak too." Peter added. "Or maybe we should talk to Daniel first, see if he knows anything."

"That's a good idea. He probably knows something."

"Would you two shut up?" James asked, his cheeks still red.

"Yes, shut up. We all need to be quiet so we will hear James' confession of his undying love."

"Shut up." James mutter, throwing a poorly aimed punch at Sirius, who easily dodged it.

"So, are you going to force the rest of us to help your lady love?" Sirius laughed.

And because Mary McDonald was gifted with impeccable timing, this is the first thing she heard of the Marauders conversation as she walked up behind them. And because Mary wasn't always the best judge of when tact was needed, she let out a snort, startling the boys, and asked, "Are you four talking about Lily?"

James' face got even redder as he whipped his head around, making sure Lily wasn't near. "They bloody told you too?" He hissed.

"No." Mary said, cool as anything. "They didn't need to. It's fairly obvious." Then she looked at him with an apologetic grin, "Welcome back, James." Sirius found this extremely hilarious, his laughter drowned out the swear words that James was throwing his way. Finally James got fed up with him and stormed off, continuing in the direction of the Great Hall.

oOoOo

The courtyard was slightly crowded with students after lessons on Monday. It was for no particular reason other than the weather was nice and everyone was afraid that it was going to be the last mild, sunny day of the year. Most students were gathered in small groups, talking with friends, some were reading and others had brought their homework with them.

Regulus Black sat with Evan Rosier on a small stone bench at the edge of the castle walls. Severus Snape was pacing back and forth in front of them, casting nervous glances over to the other side of the courtyard every few seconds and Regulus could tell that Evan was getting annoyed.

"I don't understand why you even care." Evan sighed. "What does it matter if a stupid Mudbl-"

"Don't call her that." Severus snapped, glaring up at him. "I told you not to call her that."

"And I told you that you're an idiot." Evan muttered. "Fine. What does it matter if a stupid _girl_ won't talk to you?"

"She's my friend." Severus sighed, falling onto the bench next to Regulus. "I mean, she was my fri- no. She still is. She's just angry with me."

"Why do you want to be friends with her? It's not like you don't have better options."

"I want to be friends with her," Severus hissed. "Because I like her."

Regulus stood up and looked across the yard. He was quite tired of the seemingly endless argument that Severus and Evan had kept up for the last week or so. He was glad that Severus was finally standing up to Evan, but Evan wasn't. Severus's backbone seemed to come out of nowhere and Evan wasn't pleased that Severus was now refusing to do whatever Evan said or to agree with him all the time. Regulus's eyes swept across the crowd of students until he caught sight of her red hair. Lily Evans had been the cause of this endless bickering, and Regulus had had enough.

"Look." He said, lifting his arm and pointing in her general direction. "She's right over there, she's with Carlee Baker it looks like. Why don't you go and try to talk to her?" Severus's head snapped around and Regulus could tell by the look on his face when his eyes found Lily. He was particularly relived that Evan wasn't paying Severus much attention at the moment because the way Severus was looking at Lily was extremely telling, and Regulus knew that if Evan found out about _that_ bit of information then everything would go downhill from here.

"Talk to her?" Severus chocked out, his face paling. "You think I should just go up and talk to her?"

"Well, I don't see why you shouldn't." Regulus sighed. "I mean, she's one of your best friends, right?"

"Yes."

"And you want to talk to her, right?"

"Yes, bu-"

"And until you do talk to her, you're just going to mope around and annoy us, right?" Evan added. "I'm with Reg on this one. Go and talk to her, or I'm going to hex you."

"You will not." Severus scowled. "And I don't even know what I'd say."

"Work that out on the walk over there." Regulus said. "Because I don't think that Evan was joking."

"I wasn't." Evan said. "You're annoying me and I'll hex you."

"You're annoying me too." Regulus sighed. "So go and talk to her, or I will."

"And I'll hex you."

Severus looked back and forth between Regulus and Evan for a few moments, "You two can't force me."

Evan stood up and took a step closer to Severus, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "I honestly don't care if you talk to her or not." He said. "I don't understand why you want to be friends with someone like her. But either go and talk to her, or quit whinging about her." He hiked his book-bag up and looked at Regulus. "Let's go back to the common room, Maybe Marcus is back from detention."

Regulus nodded and Evan started walking towards the castle doors. "Look," Regulus said quickly, pushing his hair away from his face. "You want to be friends with Lily, that's great. But you can't just sit back and hope she'll just forgive you. I've heard you go on and on about this for the last week, and it seems to me as if she does have a reason to be angry with you," Severus tried to interrupt him but Regulus raised his voice. "Instead of sulking, why don't you go and try to fix things?"

"She won't talk to me." Severus sighed.

"Reg?" Evan called, realizing that Regulus wasn't following along after him.

"When's the last time you tried to talk to her?" Regulus asked, raising an eyebrow. Severus stayed quiet. "That's what I thought." He smirked. "Let me know how it goes." He turned around and ran after Evan who was waiting impatiently in the doorway.

"What was that about?" Evan asked, once Regulus had caught up with him.

"Just making sure he was going to do something about this whole thing."

"You're encouraging this…_thing_ aren't you?"

"Thing?"

"Yes," Evan huffed. "This sick, unnatural relationship that he's trying to have with that Mudblood." Regulus bit his tongue for a moment and thought about how best to respond to that statement.

"Don't let him hear you call her that." He finally settled on. Then he added, "And we've talked about this, Evan."

"Right," Evan scoffed. "I forgot that you have a soft spot for _muggle-borns_ too." The older boy rolled his eyes and then laughed. "I don't know why I hang around with either of you."

oOoOo

The soles of Lily's shoes clicked angrily against the flagstone floor as she made her way to the common room. Carlee followed quietly behind her, managing to keep pace with Lily's fast strides.

Severus had tried to talk to here in the courtyard. He had come up and asked if he could speak with her, right there, in the middle of the courtyard for all the school to see. She was slightly impressed by this. He wasn't trying to hide the fact that he was talking to her, but she hadn't shown it when he was there. He had said his bit about how he was a prat and how he was sorry and Lily had listened to it all without interrupting him, without glaring, without much emotion of any kind on her face actually. When he had finished, she nodded and walked away. She hadn't said anything, not even as she heard him call her name out. She just kept walking.

Now she was pretending to be angry so that Carlee wouldn't talk to her about what had happened. She wasn't angry, and that was sort of the problem. She didn't know what to do anymore. Severus had really messed up, he had been an awful friend, but he was sorry. He really and truly was, she could see it on his face when he told her, he wasn't just saying it, he meant it. How long was she supposed to stay angry with him? It hadn't really been that long, had it? Only about a week. That didn't seem like enough time to her, but at the same time… she missed him. She missed him and she _wanted_ to forgive him.

She let out a not so angry sigh just as Carlee reached out for her arm.

"Stop." The blonde said, putting a hand on her hip. "I'm not Mary you know." Lily crinkled her brow. "I'm not going to call Severus ten times the prat and tell you that you should forget about him and move on."

"Mary wouldn't do that." Lily said, even though both girls knew that she probably would.

"Fine." Carlee said. "But I'm not going to do that either."

"Okay." Lily said, still confused. "Thank you."

Carlee rolled her eyes. "Quit pretending to be angry about what just happened for my sake." She said slowly. "You're not angry."

"How do you know?" Lily snapped.

"You're one of my best friends, Lily." Carlee said. "I know when you're angry. You usually yell at people. Not clamp your mouth shut and run away."

"I did _not_ run away." Lily scoffed. "I had nothing to say to him, so I left. There's a difference. A very big difference." Carlee raised her eyebrows. "I didn't run away." She repeated.

"I heard you the first time." Carlee said, as she turned away and walked off towards the staircase. "Who are you trying to convince now? Me, or you?"

"Stop it." Lily said, stalking after her. "Stop it, right now!"

"Stop what?" Carlee asked.

"Stop- stop tell- Just stop!"

Carlee stopped in the middle of the staircase and turned to face Lily a second time. "What's the real problem here, Lils?" Lily took a deep breath and shook her head.

"He's sorry, Carlee." She said quietly. "He's really sorry." Carlee sighed.

"I know."

"And I miss him." Lily said a little louder. "He's my best friend and I miss him. I'm not angry anymore, how much longer do I have to act like I am?"

"You don't have to act like you're angry." Carlee said, looking regretful. "But Lily, I don't want to upset you or anything, but do you really think everything is just going to be fixed now? Just because he's sorry?" Lily bit her lip and shrugged. "Because he has quite a laundry list going against him. He didn't tell you about Rabastan, he hides you, he doesn't act like you're his friend unless you're around and he lied to you."

"You're right." Lily sighed. "And when I think about it, those things do still anger me. They might always anger me." She started walking again. "I just don't think I can stop being friends with him, you know? He's my best friend, I was friends with him before I knew about Hogwarts. _He's_ the one who told me about Hogwarts! We've been through a lot together, and I'm not sure that I'm willing to give that up. Not over this."

Carlee nodded, still looking regretful, but Lily pretended she didn't notice. "I suppose I understand."

"I know you don't agree with me, but that's how I feel." She nodded her head and then shook it. "I think. I don't know." Carlee laughed at her confusion.

"We don't have to talk about it anymore."

"Thanks. Whatever I decide, I don't think I'm going to do anything about it today." The girls continued toward the common room, in silence now.

They were inside the common room before either of them felt the need to say anything. When Carlee did speak, however, it was more her thinking aloud than it was her speaking to Lily. "What is going on over there?"

Lily's eyes flickered over to where Carlee was looking. Savanna was sitting on the couch directly in front of the fireplace while a young girl with curly blonde hair stood in front of her. Both of the young girls hands were on her hips and she appeared to be very put off with Savanna.

"That's Gisele, right?" Carlee asked. "Savanna's sister?"

"Yes, I believe so." Lily said. "Though I thought Savanna told me that Gisele wasn't speaking to her."

"Looks like she changed her mind." Carlee said. "So, should we go see what's going on, or wait in the dormitory for Savanna to come and tell us?"

"Dormitory." Lily said, after only a moment of hesitation, starting in the direction of the staircase. "Let them work out whatever that is."

"That's probably best." Carlee agreed, following behind her. "Plus, I don't think I can lug this bag around much longer." She motioned to her bulging bag.

"Well, that wouldn't be a problem if you didn't insist on carrying all your books round with you all the time."

"I didn't know what homework I was going to work on in the courtyard." Carlee shrugged.

"You brought your potions book, and we finished our potions homework yesterday."

"Lily," Carlee said as though she were speaking to a small child. "You know how lazy I am. I didn't want to look through all my books to see which ones I had and which ones I needed. It was easier to just bring all of them." Lily laughed, grateful that the awkward silence was gone.

"But in doing so, you actually created more work for yourself. I don't think you're lazy- or maybe you're just _selectively_ lazy."

"Selectively lazy?" Carlee asked. "What does that mean?"

"You choose to be lazy about one thing, even if it makes more work for you later. Because you choose to be too lazy to care." Carlee scoffed.

"Lily, being lazy is not a _choice_. It is a serious problem that I have to deal with every single day."

"Then stop being lazy!" Lily cried.

Carlee shrugged, a playful smile on her face. "Hmm. Maybe later." Lily shook her head as she opened the door to their room.

"Lily! Carlee!" Arianna greeted them frantically as soon as both of them had stepped into the room.

"Arianna." Carlee said, looking curiously at the frazzled girl rushing about before them. They were the only three in the room at the moment.

"What's going on, Arianna?" Lily asked, tossing her bag onto her bed.

"It's just that," She spun around and threw her trunk open. "I've lost my History of Magic notes, and I haven't done the homework yet. I kept putting it off all weekend because I'm a dolt, but now I need to do it because it's my first class tomorrow-"

"Take a breath there, Anna." Carlee said, walking across the room and dropping her bag onto her bed. "You can borrow my notes."

"Really?" Arianna asked. She stopped digging through her trunk and stood up.

"Sure." Carlee said, digging through her bag. "Lily and I just finished the assignment for tomorrow, so I don't even need them back for a while."

"Thank you." She said, walking over to Carlee's bed. "I was so worried. Which is silly I suppose. If you two hadn't shown up just now, Bianca would have let me borrow her's. Though, not to be mean, but her notes aren't always the most helpful."

"She does seem a bit spacy sometimes." Carlee said, pulling her notes out of her overstuffed bag and handing them to Arianna.

"She's just like that with some classes. She's completely brilliant at Charms and Herbology. She just finds History of Magic a bit dull."

"That's because it is a bit dull." Lily said, still sitting on her bed. "How'd you lose your notes, anyway?"

"I suppose I just misplaced them." Arianna said, walking over to her bed, where she had her History book open and the assignment already out. "They'll turn up eventually, I just needed the notes now." Lily nodded and then let Arianna start her work. She turned around to face Carlee.

"How long before Savanna comes up here do you think?"

"Depends." Carlee said, walking up and then sitting down beside Lily. "How long does it take to fight with your sister?"

"Are you asking me personally? Or just in general?"

"I don't know. Jane and I can have it out for a good hour or two, but it didn't seem like Savanna was too invested in that argument."

"Petunia and I are pretty good at fighting as well." Lily sighed. "I wonder what they were arguing about."

"Who was arguing?" Mary asked, walking into the room.

"Savanna and Gisele." Carlee said.

"Oh." Mary said. "Yeah, I saw, and heard. Gisele doesn't want to go home for winter hols."

"Why not?" Lily asked. "Doesn't she want to see her other sisters, and her mum?"

Mary shrugged. "I think her friends are staying and she wants to stay with them. She thinks Hogwarts will be even more fun when nobody is around to tell them what they can or can't do. That's what it sounded like at least."

"So Gisele was… asking permission?" Carlee asked.

"Nah," Mary shrugged. "I think she wanted Savanna to write their mum for her."

"That's not fair." Lily said. "She's not going to do it, is she?"

"I don't think so."

"Why are they arguing about it now?" Carlee asked. "Winter hols aren't for another month."

"I don't know." Mary said. "There's only so much information you can get by eavesdropping." Carlee nodded as though she understood this dilemma perfectly and Lily shook her head at her friends.

"Let's just go down to dinner, yes?"

"Sounds brilliant." Mary said, jumping off the bed. "I'm starved."

"This is one of those days when I wish I was a Hufflepuff." Carlee said, slowly pushing herself off the bed. "It's really not fair how close their common room is to the Great Hall."

"You know," Mary said thoughtfully. "If you were a Hufflepuff, you would probably just wish that you were a house all your own, and that your common room was the Great Hall." Lily laughed and Carlee pointed a finger at her.

"You see, Lily! Mary understands!" And with that, the girls went off for dinner.

* * *

**AN: Don't forget to review please.**

**Reviews are like a really good pie. Only, you can't eat reviews... **


	16. Politics and Relationships

**AN: Look, two weeks later, just like I promised. Next one will be to you in two weeks as well, that's almost a guarantee. I have exactly two weeks left of school, so I'm busy with finals and all that mumbo-jumbo, but I like to procrastinate and writing is one of my favorite forms of procrastination. So I will have the next chapter done within two weeks. Now, enjoy this chapter if you please. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen:** **Politics and Relationships**

It shouldn't have surprised Lily to see James walk into the trophy room at two to seven on Friday evening, but it did. It was the first of her four Friday detentions that she had to serve because of the bathroom incident, though she had been expecting to serve tonight's detention alone.

"Sirius is a prat." It what he said upon his arrival, causing Lily to start. "And I'm never speaking to him again."

"Okay." Lily replied apathetically, after she had collected herself.

The head girl, Amelia Bones, was leant against the wall in front of Lily looking down at her wristwatch, slightly surprised. "You're early." She said to James.

"Don't get used to it." James sighed. "I was just avoiding Sirius, because he's a prat." Amelia raised a brow.

"Do I want to know what happened?" She asked.

"Probably not." James said.

"Then I'm not going to ask." She pushed herself off the wall and then motioned towards two buckets in the middle of the room. "Both of your detentions require you to clean, polish and shine all the trophies and plaques in the room. Any questions?" Neither of them had any. "Good. Lily, I hope this teaches you not to flood any more toilets." Lily nodded solemnly, even though the head girl had said it with a smile. "And James…" She sighed and waved a dismissive hand at him. "I'll probably see you next week or something, yeah?"

James grinned. "Probably." He agreed.

"You can leave when you're finished. If you leave before, you each get another detention blah blah blah. You know the gist I suppose. Now, I've got a mountain of homework to get to, so I'll just leave you to it."

"See you, Bones." James said to her retreating figure.

"So?" Lily asked, when the door to the trophy room swung shut.

"So?" James repeated.

"Why are you in detention?" She asked,

"Oh." He turned slightly red and looked down at the floor. "I told you already. Sirius is a prat. I think I'll toss him out a window the next time I see him. How many detentions to you think I'll get for that?" Lily could see that the topic was making James uncomfortable, which only peaked her interest. She pretended to think about his question for a moment before answering.

"At least two." James laughed.

"Two? That's it? Then it would certainly be worth it." Lily nodded.

"Why is Sirius getting tossed out of a window then? Apart from the fact that he's a prat, I mean."

"Well, he wouldn't be getting tossed out a window if he weren't a prat, so I don't understand your question." He stepped around her and picked up one of the two buckets. "We should probably get started with this. Who knows that last time it was properly cleaned."

"You're avoiding answering my question." Lily accused. "What did Sirius do?"

"He was just being a prat, that's all."

"Potter." Lily said warningly.

"_Evans_." James mocked. "He was teasing me, alright?"

"About what?"

"Nothing."

"It obviously wasn't nothing. What was it?"

"I said it was nothing."

"Yes, but you were lying."

"Why do you care?" James asked, a bit harshly. Lily was slightly taken back. She blinked rapidly and then shrugged.

"I was only curious. I don't think I've ever seen you embarrassed before."

"I'm not embarrassed." James muttered.

"Of course not." Lily grinned. "I also don't want to spend the next two hours or so in uncomfortable silence. I was trying to start a conversation."

"You're not opposed to talking to me then?"

"When have I ever been opposed to talking to you?" Lily asked. "I mean, I supposed I've never sought out conversation with you, but I don't go out of my way to avoid speaking to you." She bent down and picked up the other bucket and went over to where James was. "_And_," She emphasized. "We've been getting along fairly well lately."

"Better than usual." James agreed, still avoiding looking at her.

"You're still not going to tell me, are you?"

"No." James said. Lily sighed.

"You know that just makes me want to know even more, right?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose." James said, rubbing vigorously at a plaque. "I wasn't going to bring it up at all, seeing as how I don't want you to know. You're the one wh-"

"I know." Lily interrupted him. Then she was struck with an idea and grinned impishly. "I don't suppose Sirius would tell me either, right? If I were to ask him?"

James' head snapped around to face her and his face was very pale. "Please don't." He managed to chock out. "Please, _please_ don't."

"Well now I'm really, _really_ curious." Lily said, turning away from him and getting to work on one of the many Quidditch trophies in the room. She saw out of the corner of her eye James shift his weight from one foot to the other looking extremely uncomfortable and thoughtful.

"Let's talk about something else." He said at length. "Did you read the Prophet this morning?" Lily wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop, but she took pity on James and went along with it.

"Yes, I did. They finally got that wretched bill passed."

"I know." James sighed. "I can only imagine how angry dad must be, after all the work he put into making sure that this wouldn't be the outcome, and it didn't even matter. Muggles are no longer allowed in St. Mungo's."

"How long till Henderson makes a statement do you think?" Lily asked. "I mean, he has to say something eventually, right?"

"If my parents have anything to do about it, he'll say something very soon." James said. "I can only _imagine_ how angry my dad is, but mum sent me a letter this morning, shortly after the Prophet arrived. Said she was going up to have a word with the minister as soon as she could get out of the office."

"Your parents are really… active in all of this, aren't they?" Lily asked.

"Probably more than I know." James agreed. "My family has always been very concerned about equality and fair treatment and that kind of thing, it's the reason we were rejected by so many of the Pure-blood families."

"I didn't know you were." Lily said, suddenly very aware of her Muggle-born status.

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't." James grinned. "Family politics doesn't usually make an appearance in Hogwarts, only on special occasions."

"Like with Sirius?" Lily asked.

"Like with Sirius." James nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course." James said.

"What do you mean when you say that your family is rejected?"

James sighed. "It's a bit difficult to explain I suppose. And maybe rejected isn't really the best word for it." He was quiet for a moment, collecting his thoughts, before he spoke. "The thing you have to understand is firstly, how important reputations are to a lot of the Pure-blood families. Another thing you have to understand is how very uncomfortable they all are with change, anything new or different or abnormal. My family has been, well, silently judged for a long time because of our firm stance on Muggle rights and Muggle-born equality. We don't think that being a Pure-blood makes you better than anyone else, other families see that as a sign of weakness, others see it as a sign of stupidity. Whatever they see it as, they don't see it as right."

Lily thought about this for a moment and then pointed out, "Not all Pure-blood families think like that." James shook his head.

"You're right. The Potters aren't the only Pure-blood family that is decent. But not all the Pure-bloods you know are the _right_ kind of Pure-bloods."

"What does that mean?" Lily asked, and James let out a chuckle.

"You don't honestly believe that all Pure-bloods think of each other as equals, do you?"

"I _did_." Lily sighed.

"Well, they don't. The Potters, the Bakers, the Blacks and the Longbottoms area all _noble_ families. We're really old, centuries old and to a lot of people, that gives us more… credence. Families like the Fortescues, and Deutchs are newer. They haven't been around as long and in some Pure-blood's minds, that makes them lesser."

"So these old _noble_ families," Lily said, trying to work this out in her head as she said it aloud. "They're some kind of magic royalty or something?" James laughed.

"Pretty much." James' grin became a sneer. "And you know the worst part? They're not the only ones that think so. The noble families aren't the only people who think that they deserve some kind of special treatment."

"You're from a noble family, yes?" She asked, then she saw the look on James' face and realized how her question sounded. "Potter, I didn't-"

"I don't think like that, Lily." He said firmly. "I told you, our family isn't like the others."

"I know." She said quickly. "I wasn't saying yours was. I was simply clarifying things." James took what she was saying as the truth and nodded. Then he smiled.

"Anyway, that's that. That's the reason my mum and dad have to work so hard to get anything done. They're going against a fair number of other families with just as much, if not more, influence than they have."

Lily was quiet for a moment and James, feeling like he had nothing more to say on the subject, was quiet as well. Lily moved on to a new trophy case and continued the tedious work of polishing, but she was still trying to digest what James had told her.

"Can I ask another question?" She asked, after a silent twenty minutes. James nodded. "Now, don't take this the wrong way, but why do your parents bother with all of this? It would be safer to just keep out of it all. It's not their problem, it doesn't affect them, why do they care so much?" James' back was to her, so she couldn't see his face. She was nervous for a moment, thinking that she had offended him again, but then he dropped his rag into the bucket and turned around with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Can I answer this with an example?" Lily nodded. "Alright, bear with me for a moment. Imagine that you're in class and you see another kid getting picked on. And it's not just some prats having a laugh, but they're actually being really cruel to this kid. The teacher walks in and ignores it, the other kids aren't doing anything, though some might be casting disapproving looks every now and then, but no one has stepped in and helped this kid. Would you just stand by and watch?"

"Of course I wouldn't, but I don't like your metaphor." Lily said. "Because that means that I'm the kid getting picked on. Why can't I take care of myself, why do I need anyone's help?"

"Well because the professor is the ministry and the other kids aren't actually kids, they're adults with twisted ideas about right and wrong. It's hard to stick up for yourself when almost no one is willing to listen to you."

"But that makes it sound so… paternal."

"Okay forget the metaphor. They can't stand by and watch people get treated poorly because they're decent people. They can't sit by and watch injustice happen simply because they were born into a life of wealth and privilege."

"But they could get…"

"Hurt, killed… or worse. I know." James huffed, turning back to the plaques. When he spoke again, he sounded a bit stiffer than he had before, as if he was reciting something now. "But there is right, and there is wrong. It doesn't matter what the consequences are or if it's difficult, you're supposed to do what's right. Can we talk about something else now?"

"Of course. I'm sorry." Lily cleared her throat and searched her head for another topic of conversation, but her head was a bit muddled with all the information James had just told her and the only thing she could think of was, "You could always tell me what Sirius was teasing you for." James laughed, sounding almost grateful.

"Not on your life, Evans."

oOoOo

Carlee sighed as she pulled her blond hair back into a low plait. It wouldn't stay out of her eyes and she was trying to finish her Astronomy homework quickly so she could go and meet Felicity and Alice in the Entrance Hall. She should have already finished her Astronomy homework if she was being honest with herself. All she had to do was draw a picture of Jupiter and its moons, then write up a very short description of each. It wasn't exactly what Carlee would call a stimulating assignment. Nevertheless, it had to be completed before Tuesday's class, and Sunday morning seemed like the perfect time to get it finished.

At least that's what she had thought when she came into the Library a little over an hour ago with nothing but her Astronomy homework. She should have finished it by now. She had had enough time. She just couldn't concentrate, because apparently a month before the winter holiday _wasn't_ too soon to be talking about it.

She reached into her robe pocket and pulled out a worn piece of stationary, and unfolded it for the twelfth time since sitting down.

_Dear Carlee,_

_I hope that you know that your presence at home is expected this Christmas. Your Grandmother is coming all the way from Bridgeport to stay with us, and you know how_ _much she loves to see you, dear. Though, to be perfectly honest, my mother always was a bit batty and she probably wouldn't notice if you were here or not. That's not to say that the rest of us, myself not only included but especially, have missed you terribly and cannot wait to see you again. _

_I know that back in September, you expressed a desire to stay in the castle for Christmas, and I can't say that I blame you for wanting to do that. Christmas at Hogwarts is probably breathtaking. But my dear, I hope you'll reconsider and come home. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without you._

_With love and hugs,_

_Mum_

Every time she read the letter she got more and more furious. How could her mother write her a letter like this? How could she say things like, 'with love and hugs' after what had happened last summer? After what had happened the summer before that? After what she had done to Carlee? What gave her the _right_? How was this at all _fair_?

When the letter first came, she had been so blinded with rage that she made it three quarters of the way to Dumbledore's office before she realized what exactly she would have to say to him when she got there. The conversation that she _needed_ to have with someone, wasn't a conversation that she _wanted_ to have with anyone, nor was it something that she wanted to think about. But she couldn't help but think about it when she was carrying her mother's note around with her. She couldn't get rid of it either, she had tried to throw it out, toss it in the fire, but she couldn't. She didn't know why, and carrying it around in her pocket only made her feel worse.

The truth was, it was a _nice_ note. It wasn't clipped, cruel, mean or short, it was truly _nice_. And even if the sentiments held in it were the farthest things from true, it was what Carlee wanted. She wanted to have the kind of relationship with her mother where they could joke about her senile grandmother or discuss things as trivial as what Hogwarts looked like during the winter. It would never happen, even if her mother attempted to have that kind of relationship with her, because no matter what she did, she could never make up for what she had already done. No matter how many nice notes she sent, Carlee could never forgive her for what had happened.

"Hullo." A dark haired girl said as she slid into the chair across from Carlee and startling her out of her thoughts. "Mind if I sit here?" Carlee looked up to find her sister Jane sitting in front of her.

"I don't care where you sit." Carlee snapped.

"Good." Jane replied, pulling her bag onto the table and withdrawing her potions textbook. Carlee watched her older sister curiously, as she retrieved a quill and ink from her bag as well. The Slytherin clad forth year ignored the strange looks Carlee was giving her and continued to set up her work area. Carlee looked around and saw that there were three empty tables within the immediate proximity and another half dozen along the back wall.

"What are you doing?" Carlee asked, stuffing the letter back into her pocket.

"Potions." Jane replied steadily, not meeting the Gryffindor's eyes. "Slughorn gave us an disgusting amount of weekend homework and I have yet to finish it, even though I've been working on it since Friday afternoon. It's like he doesn't want me to have time for my friends or something."

"Jane." Carlee said slowly, leaning forward in her chair. "What are you doing here? At my table?"

"You said you didn't mind if I sat here." Jane said, her eyes flashing up to meet Carlee's for a quick moment, then they went back down to her textbook.

"I don't mind," Carlee said, picking up her quill and giving it a twirl. "I'm just confused. You tend to avoid me normally. Why the sudden change?"

Jane looked up at Carlee, this time holding her gaze and sighed. "I'm not exactly sure."

"What?"

"I was working over there," Jane said, pointing at the back wall. "And I looked over and saw you sitting her by yourself and I… well, I wasn't going to come over here, but then Rabastan came up to me and asked if he could sit with me, and Rabastan gives me the creeps so I told him the I was actually going to sit with my sister because I hadn't talked to you in a while." Jane tucked a stand of hair behind her ear and continued, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Then he said something about how you were a blood traitor and a Gryffindor so I told him to take a flying leap because you were my sister and he wasn't allowed to talk about you like that. I probably only said that so I have a reason to be angry with him for a while, but… there you are. Now I'm here."

"You used me as an excuse to get away from Lestrange?"

"I used you as an excuse to get away from Lestrange." Jane confirmed.

"Why are you being nice to me then?" Carlee asked. "You got away from Lestrange, that's what you wanted." Jane rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I can be nice to you if I want. I'm not a bitch, Carlee."

"Could have fooled me." She muttered. "But honestly, why?"

"I don't know." Jane muttered, getting frustrated. "I told you that already. I saw you here and I didn't feel angry at the sight of you like I usually do. I got legitimately angry when Rabastan said those things about you and I actually wanted to come over and talk to you. I have no clue why."

"Aw." Carlee said with a playful smirk. "You care about me."

"Obviously. You're my sister." Jane muttered.

"That's never been proven." Carlee said, causing Jane to grin as well.

"What are you working on?" She asked, nodding towards the book Carlee had in front of her.

"Astronomy." Carlee sighed. "I should have it finished by now, I was distracted though."

"Why?" Jane asked, looking genuinely interested.

She thought, for a moment, about telling Jane the truth. Telling her about the note, and asking her what she thought it meant. But she didn't. She turned her head and nodded in the direction of group of Hufflepuff fifth year boys who might have been the cause of her distraction if she didn't have the note with her. "They won't be quiet." Jane looked at them reproachfully and nodded.

"I could hear them from across the room earlier. We could charm bits of parchment to bounce off their heads." She said, pulling her wand out. Carlee laughed but shook her head.

"Madam Pince is right behind you." She said, nodding towards the librarian. "It looks as though she's about to kick them out anyway." Jane shrugged.

The two girls started working on their separate homework assignments after that. They worked in silence for almost twenty minutes when Jane looked up at Carlee and pursed her lips together. Carlee saw her do this out of the corner of her eye and looked up with a quizzical expression on her face. "What?"

"Nothing." Jane said quickly, looking back down at her book. She dipped her quill in her inkwell and scratched something out on her parchment. "It's just," She was still writing as she talked. "I always thought you didn't like me." Carlee's brows crinkled together and she tilted her head to the side.

"Why did you think that?" She asked. "You're the one who was always… hostile."

"I mean, I know I was never your favorite sister. You and Ella were completely inseparable since birth, but I don't know. It seemed like you preferred anyone's company to mine."

"You stole my dolls and cut their hair off." Carlee said flatly. "And that's one of your lesser offences."

"Yes, I know." Jane pressed. "But-oh! It doesn't matter."

"Jane," Carlee said quietly, seeing that it did matter to her older sister. Carlee wasn't sure why it mattered, seeing as how the two of them had never got along very well, but Carlee did care about her, so she wasn't going to just drop the subject. "What is it?"

Jane looked up petulantly and put her quill down. She crossed her arms and sighed. "We're sisters." She said. "And I think we should act like it."

Carlee's eyes widened. It was one thing for Jane to sit down across from her and exchange pleasantries, but it was another thing entirely for her to say something like that.

"What do you mean? You want to sit around and braid each other's hair and stuff?" Jane scoffed.

"No. Anyway, you know what I mean. I'm not your only sister, you're not new to this whole sibling relationship thing. I think we should start fresh, turn over a new leaf, give it another go, all that stuff."

"Jane, are you asking me to be your friend?"

"You don't have to." She said sharply, putting the cork back in her inkwell and throwing it in her bag. "I was only asking-"

"Stop." Carlee said, reaching out and grabbing Jane's risk. "I think it's a great idea. We should be friends."

"Sisters." Jane corrected. "That way I don't have to like you all the time."

"Gee, thanks." Carlee laughed. "Well, I've finished my homework, and if we've got all this straightened out…"

"Yes, we're good." Jane nodded. "Now leave, you're distracting me."

"Fair enough." Carlee said, sweeping her things into her bag and standing up. "I suppose I'll… talk to you later." She said, somewhat awkwardly.

"You will." Jane nodded. "I'll see you around."

oOoOo

James walked into Remus's small private room in the hospital wing still wearing his Quidditch attire and carrying his broom.

"Sorry I couldn't be here earlier." James sighed, dropping his broom near the wall and pulling a chair up next to Remus's bed. Sirius and Peter were sitting on the other side of his bed, munching on treacle tart and leafing through textbooks. "Seth's still pretty upset about how the last game went. Can't say I blame him, from what I've heard, the team played wretchedly last weekend. Anyway, he doesn't want a repeat of that, so he's running longer practices and more frequent practices." He pulled his bag up from where Sirius had left it for him and pulled out a textbook at random. "How are you feeling, Remus?"

"I'm alright." Remus said. "Are you sure you don't want to go change first?"

"I'm already late." James said. "I'm good like this."

"You smell, James." Peter said, tossing another piece of treacle tart into his mouth.

"It's making me sick." Sirius added in agreement.

"Prat." James muttered.

"Have you finished all your homework?" Remus asked, ignoring Sirius and Peter's snickers. "From the week you were gone I mean."

"No." James said miserably. "And I've got six classes tomorrow. I'm not even close to finished with my Arithmancy, so I'll be up most of the night doing that, McGonagall is expecting me to have at least half of my Transfigurations and that's only two classes!"

"We'll help you, James." Remus said, picking up his Transfigurations book off the small table near his bed.

"Thanks." James said, smiling at him.

"Before we start this," Sirius said with a smug grin. "You never did tell us how your date with Evans went. On Friday, it was just the two of you up in the trophy room." Sirius raised his eyebrows suggestively. James had just opened his mouth to let out some sort of scathing retort when Remus let out a heavy sigh.

"Please, Sirius. Not now." James and Sirius both looked at Remus and then exchanged looks with the other. If it hadn't been the day after the full moon, neither one of them would have paid him any attention, but it was the day after the full moon, so Sirius muttered a quick apology and James readily accepted.

The boys all help James get through the last two weeks' worth of Transfiguration homework for the next two hours before Madam Pomfrey came into the room and informed them that Remus needed to sleep.

"You'll release him for classes tomorrow, yeah?" James asked from the doorway.

"I don't see why he shouldn't be fit to go to classes." Pomfrey replied, feeling Remus's forehead with the back of her hand. "He just needs his rest now."

"We'll come back tomorrow before breakfast to pick you up then." Sirius said. "Sweet dreams, Remus." He said cheekily.

"Don't let the doxies bite." James added with a wink. Then three of the four Marauders left the hospital wing.

"Dinner?" Peter suggested.

"I really need to shower and change." James said. "But I'll meet you in the Great Hall later."

"Sounds good." Sirius shrugged. They split off in the Entrance Hall, James going up the main staircase and Sirius and Peter into the Great Hall.

James had his broom balanced on one shoulder and his book bag slung round the other and was whistling tunelessly as he walked down the corridor. He was on the third floor before he ran into anyone on the corridor. It was Frank, Carl and Stephen, three of James' roommates. Stephen was snickering and Frank looked put out.

"Come on Longbottom, can't you take a joke?" Stephen was saying. The contrast in despair on Frank's face and mirth on Stephen's face made James want to pull out his wand and see if Stephen could take a joke, but unfortunately his hands were full at the moment.

"What's going on?" James asked, calling attention to himself. "Frank?" He added, when he saw Stephen open his mouth.

"It was nothing." Frank said glumly. Stephen started laughing again.

"Carl?" James asked, turning to the third boy. Carl was sometimes a rambling loon, but James would much rather listen to him explain what happened than ask Stephen.

Carl twisted his face up in confusion. "It…it was nothing." He said slowly, looking at Frank.

"_Carl."_ James said tersely. Something about the look on Frank's face was making James angry. Frank was always fairly calm and he never got tangled up in any sort trouble, but he certainly _looked_ troubled at the moment.

"There were some Slytherins." Carl blurted out. "They were walking along-"

"Who?" James interrupted.

"I don't know. Lestrange, Avery… they saw us and, well Stephen is friends with Avery and so we stopped walking while they talked for a while-"

"What happened, Carl?"

"Lestrange said something." Carl said, looking at the ground now. "He said something to me and Frank." James looked expectantly at Carl, but it was Frank who spoke.

"He just said, 'watch it." Frank said harshly. "It wasn't a big deal, like I said before."

"It's not a big deal, it was a joke!" Stephen said. "He was joking, it was funny."

"It's not funny." James snapped. "Where is he? Where's Lestrange?"

"He was on the fourth floor when we ran into him a few minutes ago." Frank said, then he looked at James and his frown became more pronounced. "What are you going to do-"

James didn't bother to answer him as he rushed pass the trio and up the staircase.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading. Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I'm sure you all know what James is going to do. Something stupid, that's right. **

**Reviews make the world go round,**

**~Craz**


	17. Engraved Quills and Christmas Elves

**AP: Oh goodness. It's been almost four months. I'm really sorry. I'm not going to waste more of your time, enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Engraved Quills and Christmas Elves  
**

The head of the DMLE's office was large and rectangular. The walls were fairly bare except for a large portrait of Caldwell Burke, who had been head of the DMLE about a century and a half ago. Before he died, he managed to get his portrait in the office and make sure it would stay there with an especially powerful permanent sticking charm. After the ministry had devoted much too much time and money into getting the portrait removed, they finally relented and the portrait had been there ever since. Liza Potter hated it.

One of the first things she had done upon moving into the office was silence the portrait. It was tricky, and it took a few tries, but it had to be done. She didn't know how her predecessors had managed to get anything done with him trying to tell them how to do their job all the time, and she had enough to think about without him adding his voice to the mix.

She sat behind her large mahogany desk, surrounded by stacks of paperwork and then a bit more paperwork. She sighed and propped her arm up so she could rest her chin on her knuckles. This last week had been extremely demanding, and she hadn't been able to get a enough sleep, she actually didn't think that she had slept at all last night.

"Potter," Someone said from the doorway. Liza sat up straighter and brushed away any loose strands of hair before looking up and finding Moody standing right outside her office.

"Oh, it's you." She sighed, propping her arm back up and relaxing. The last thing she needed right now was a rumor getting out that she was too tired to do her job, or to old. Moody didn't say anything, but continued to stand outside of her office. "Well come in then." She said, motioning to the chair in front of her desk. "Did you see Henderson? Did he say anything?"

"No." Moody said gruffly, coming in and dropping down on to the offered chair. "I think he's been flooing in, straight to his office. Only way the both of us could keep missing him."

"We could have his fireplace disconnected." Liza said lazily, knowing as she said it that it was not actually a plausible plan. As expected, Moody scoffed.

"You know that we could never get any of those bleeding dossers in the floo department to go for that. Rather keep their cushy jobs than stand up to Henderson."

"We need to speak with him." Liza said. "We can't keep this up forever. I need sleep, and I know you say you're fine, but you need sleep as well."

"Hmph." Liza sent him a stern glare and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying that there aren't things I'd rather be doing than chasing after the minister at all hours of the day, but I'm not going to stop until we get to talk to him. I can sleep later."

"How many pepper-up potions have you taken? And how many coffees on top of that?"

"I was thinking," Moody said, ignoring her question. Liza rolled her eyes. "What if we didn't enforce the law? What if we made sure that nobody_ followed_ the law?" Liza let out a humorless laugh and picked up a piece of parchment off the top of the desk.

"Just because I haven't _seen_ the minister in person doesn't mean he hasn't made sure I'm doing what he wants." She handed Moody the parchment and he scanned over it quickly.

"He'll sack you then." Moody sighed. "We can't let that happen."

"I agree. If he gets the chance to fire me, he'll have some tight wad, low-life in here faster than you can say 'merlin help us.' Then he won't have to deal with you and I laying into him about every little thing. Do you know how many extra… _things_ he tried to fit into his 'reform' legislation? I have to go over every single one with a fine tooth comb just to be sure he's not proclaiming himself our overlord in the fine print." Moody huffed in agreement and then looked down at the parchment thoughtfully.

"You know," He said, setting the parchment back on Liza's desk. "If I do something that you don't authorize, you can't be held accountable." Liza raised her eyebrows for a moment, slightly confused as to why he said this but then smiled as she understood his implication.

"Of course that's true," She said, picking up a stack of papers and standing. "I can't _stop_ you from doing things behind my back. Not technically."

"I'm going to take that as permission." Moody said, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Take it however you want, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course not." Moody said with a grin. Then he too stood and walked towards the door.

"Oh, and Moody?" He turned around. "Why don't you owl my husband, I'm sure he'll be interested in talking to you."

"Right away, ma'am." Moody said with a wink, and then he rushed out of her office, heading in the direction of the auror department.

oOoOo

James rounded the corner of the fourth floor corridor and he was greeted with a sight that took him for surprise. He was expecting to see Avery and Lestrange, maybe a few others boasting about their stint with Frank and Carl. What he saw was completely better.

"I don't understand why you all seem to think that it's okay for you to say things like that. I mean, it's one thing to whisper them as you pass me in an empty corridor, which isn't okay either, but right now you're sitting out here in the open! I mean, anyone could walk by hear you. For all you know, McGonagall is about to walk around the corner at this moment." The extremely petite, usually quiet Arianna Kaye was standing in front of a group of Slytherin boys, her hands on her hips and her wand in hand. "If she did, do you think I wouldn't tell her what you were saying? Do you think I would just quiver up against the wall and let you get away with that kind of behavior?" James didn't think he had ever hear Arianna say so many words in the three years he had known her.

"Shut up you stupid mu-"

"Say it again." She threatened, lifting her wand up. "I dare you." James grinned at the look on Avery's face. Rabastan and Severus looked weary as well, but they hid it better than Avery did.

Rabastan sighed heavily and crossed his arms. "Do you really think that's frightening? I'm not even sure you know how to use that properly." James thought about announcing his presence, but Arianna seemed to be holding her own rather well, so he stayed back.

"If my memory serves me correctly, I scored better than all of your mates here on the last Transfiguration exam._ And_ Flitwick had me teach Avery here how to do the summoning charm because he couldn't manage it on his own. Don't tell me I don't know how to use my wand when your _Pureblood_ mates are incompetent fools." James let out a snicker at that and the group of four turned to see who had entered the corridor.

"Ignore me." James said with a smile. "I was enjoying watching Arianna tear into you three."

"Shove off, Potter." Severus sneered. "This doesn't concern you."

"Actually it does. I was heading up here to talk to the three of you." James said, walking up to them and standing next to Arianna. "You don't mind, do you?" He asked her. She sighed and shook her head.

"Not at all. Now that you're here, I won't have to hex them. You can do it for me. I don't really fancy detention, and I honestly don't think the three of them are worth it anyway." James grinned at her, and then her turned to the Slytherins, the grin dropping off of his face.

"If you three ever threaten one of my friends again, I will hex you. If I hear any of you calling Arianna or any other Muggle-born a you-know-what, I will hex you. Do I make myself clear?"

Avery smirked. "You do realize that you two are outnumbered, don't you?"

"Yes." James said. "But as Arianna already pointed out, at least two of you are 'incompetent fools'. Leave my friends alone." He turned to Arianna after that. "Common room or Great Hall?"

"Common room." She said.

"I'm headed up there myself. Mind if I join you?" James asked, ignoring the fuming boys in front of him.

"Not at all." She said with a smile. "Are you just getting back from Quidditch practice? I thought I saw the others come in a couple hours ago."

"They did, and no. I got held up with Sirius and Pete in the library. Practice ran late and my Transfiguration homework won't do itself no matter how many times I try and charm it to."

"That's it?" Lestrange asked, taking a few steps towards the two Gryffindors. "You're just going to walk away?"

James turned around and nodded. "Yes. I think so."

"You don't want to show off in front of Arianna?" Avery sneered. "Or is your taste more limited to one specific Mu-"

"If you saw Mudblood one more time…" Arianna interrupted. Clenching her hand around her wand tightly and closing her eyes.

"What do you mean by that, Avery?" James asked, less concerned with his word choice than his implication.

"I think you know what he means." Lestrange laughed. "It's rather obvious, isn't it?"

"You fancy that Evans girl." James wasn't the only one who looked at Avery with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Snape asked before James managed to. "Potter doesn't like Lily."

"Of course he does." Avery sneered.

"Umm… excuse me." Arianna said, stepping in front of James. "I don't think this," She waved her hand back and forth between the two groups. "Has anything to do with whether or not James has feelings for anyone. This," She did the motion again. "Is about you three being ignorant dunder heads. We're walking away now. Cheer!" She turned back towards James, grabbed his arm and pulled him off in the direction of the staircase. Avery and Lestrange called after them, but Arianna kept a firm grip on James and kept walking.

Once they had reached the fifth floor and were out of hearing distance. "I don't even know what business they have being on the fourth floor. And if they think that I'm not going straight to McGonagall then their out of the minds! They can't just get away with saying things like that."

"Why did they think that?" James asked, stopping her just as she took her first step on the next set of stairs. She turned around and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Why do they think what?" She asked.

"Why do they think that I like Lily?" James asked, trying not to make it sound like this question was too important to him.

"Well," She said slowly. "You do, don't you?"

"No." James said quickly. "Besides, I asked you why they think I fancy her."

"They aren't blind, James." She said with a grin. "And neither am I. You don't need to lie to me."

"You know what?" James said, walking ahead of her up the stairs. "I think I liked it better when you were shy and quiet."

"I'm sorry, would you rather me pretend to believe you blatant lie?"

"Yes." He said and she started laughing. "Wait, I mean no. I wasn't lying. I just want you to- oh forget it." She was still laughing at him as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?"

"Would you give it a rest, Arianna?" James said after giving the password.

"I'm sorry, James. It's just, your face…" She broke off giggling. "It's priceless."

"I'm sure." James said. "This whole thing was absolutely hilarious, wasn't it?"

"Don't take it too hard." She said, patting him on the back. He jerked away from her, which made her laugh even more. "I've got to go drop off my bag and then find McGonagall. I'll see you later."

James shook his head at her and turned towards the boys dormitories.

oOoOo

It was Tuesday afternoon before Lily was able to speak with Severus alone. He was sitting by himself at a back table in the library when Lily walked in. She hadn't been planning on reconciling with him just then, but she saw an opportunity and she took it.

She marched up to his table, quite determined for only having decided a few moments ago that she was going to make things right with him, and slid into the chair across from his.

"You're going to listen," She said, dropping her bag to the floor and then crossing her arms on the table. "And I'm going to talk. What you did makes me very _very_ upset. I don't understand why you did it, I can't rationalize it like I normally can when you do something that I don't agree with, but… You're my best mate and that's not going to change just because you're somewhat of an idiot. If you ever put me in this type of position again though, where I'd look like a complete fool to forgive you, I won't. That will be it, do you understand?"

Severus had listened to her little speech with wide eyes and a shocked expression. He quickly nodded her head and then opened his mouth to speak but Lily cut him off.

"I understand that some of your housemates don't like Muggle-borns but I don't condone bullying Severus. If you want to continue to be my friend, _you_ are not allowed to bully people. You are not allowed to call anyone a Mudblood or hex Potter simply because he's walking down the same corridor as you. I don't want you to keep secrets from me simply because you don't want your _friends_ to be angry with you. We're best mates, you and me. I want you to act like it."

"Lily," Severus said quickly, stopping her from adding something else. "I get it, really I do. I was an arse, I was wrong, I messed up a lot. I'm not going to do it again. You're right. You are my best friend and that should come first. I'm sorry."

Lily had heard him say most of that a couple days ago when he had tried to apologize, but it was good to hear it again. She smiled, and Severus smiled back at her. It wasn't his usual little twitch of the lips either. She could see almost all of his teeth he was smiling so big.

"Then I forgive you." She said.

"Thank you, Lily." He said, still smiling.

Lily stopped smiling for a moment and looked down at the table. "But really, Sev. Don't make me go through this again."

"I won't." He promised. "Honestly, I've learned my lesson."

"Good." She sighed, feeling better than she had in about a week. "Now, do you want to work on Potions or Transfiguration?" She saw him look down at whatever he had been working on when she had walked up to him and watched as he put his parchment in his textbook and push it off to the side.

"Let's do the Transfiguration's essay."

"We could work on whatever it was that you were working on." She said.

"Nah, it's just the questions for DADA and I'm mostly done with them. We can do Transfigurations."

"If you're sure." Lily said, pulling her bag up on the table.

"I'm sure." He said.

oOoOo

It had taken a couple weeks before anyone really noticed that St. Mungo's wasn't enforcing the anti-muggle legislation that had been passed. Mostly because they had been trying to keep it under wraps for the most part. If any Muggles needed to be admitted, they were admitted under false names, or not properly admitted at all. This way, Charles Potter got to continue treating everyone who needed to be treated and the Minister got to believe that he was actually in control.

It was the end of November when the Daily Prophet noticed that the bill was being ignored almost completely. Though, by this time it was sort of hard to miss. There had been an attack on a muggle village. A dozen or so Death Eaters wandered around the town and cursed the unsuspecting civilians. Five were killed, but many of them had jinxes or hexes put on them that required St. Mungo's attention. It was suspected that the Death Eaters were boasting about the new law even though they didn't really have much to boast about.

Instead of shutting their doors to the muggles, St. Mungo's didn't even hesitate to offer them medical attention and lodging with in the building. Shortly after some of the more law-abiding employees of the hospital found out that the muggles were being let in for treatment, they contacted the ministry. And instead of the D.M.L.E sending in hit wizards to extract the muggles from the building, Alastor Moody sent 20 aurors to stand guard at the doors of all the muggles to make sure that no one was going to harm them or try and force them to leave.

When the article was being written, Elizabeth Potter was in France, visiting her mother and unable to comment on what had happened. She had left Alastor Moody in charge during her absence and no one could logically pin what had happened on her.

"On a scale of one to ten," Sirius said, sitting in the Great Hall and reading the prophet over James' shoulder. "How angry do you think the Minister is?"

"After everything he's been saying about how this law would strengthen the wizarding community and appease the Death Eaters?" James asked, watching the smirking picture of Alastor Moody wink at him. "I just hope Moody doesn't get sacked because of all of this."

"That's what I was thinking." Sirius said. "Thought to fire Moody, Henderson would have to go through your mum and I don't' think she would let that happen."

"Nah, but he's go over her head if he has to." James said, putting the paper down on the table. "I hope they have a plan."

"It was a stupid law to begin with." Peter said from his seat next to Remus. "Not letting Muggles into St. Mungo's. They had to know it wasn't going to work."

"What were the staff supposed to do?" Remus agreed. "If they didn't do anything, then magic would have been exposed to the muggles. Is that what they want to happen?"

"Healers are still allowed to help muggles, they just aren't allowed to admit them into the hospital." James said. "They can travel to them and treat them in their homes."

"But that uses even more time and resources!" He exclaimed.

"This isn't a budget issue, Remus." James said. "This is all politics. For some reason Henderson has found it necessary to appease the Death Eaters. He thinks instead of trying to stop them from hurting people by making them abide the laws, he should change the laws to make them happy."

"That's not right." Peter sighed. "That's not right at all."

"No it's not." Sirius said. "But that's enough about the ministry this morning. We only have two weeks until Christmas hols and we haven't even thought of our Christmas prank yet."

"That's true." James nodded. "Nor have we managed to catch Rabastan doing anything suspicious."

"I think that was a dead end. Whoever framed Lily isn't trying to do it anymore so I don't think we're going to be able to catch them." Peter said. "But we should get started on the prank. I was thinking that it should involve the house elves."

"The house elves?" Sirius mused. "That's sounds interesting."

"We can't just give up on finding out who framed Lily!" James exclaimed.

"Look," Remus said, nodding down the table towards the redhead in question. "She seems to be over it. I think it's alright if we-"

"Give up?" James offered. "We don't' give up on things. We've found three secret passages to Hogsmeade and about a dozen secret passages that lead to different parts of the castle. We're working on becoming _animagi_," He whispered. "And we're making a map of the school that's not only going to have a password needed to view its contents, but it's also going to track everyone in the castle."

"I still don't know how we're going to manage that." Sirius added.

"We don't give up!"

"Yes, alright." Remus sighed. "But we haven't found anything following Rabastan and we have no real leads. What do you suggest we do?" James opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. Remus nodded his head victoriously.

"Wait," James said as the other three boys started to talk about the prank. "We'll just have to… talk to Daniel! We haven't talked to him in a while. And we could talk to Regulus too, see if they know anything."

"If Reg knew anything, he would have told me." Sirius said looking slightly put out at James' implication.

"Okay, well then we'll talk to Daniel."

"Don't you think Daniel would have told a teacher?" Peter said. "He is a prefect after all." James slumped his shoulders and sighed.

"Fine. We'll just wait for it to happen again before we try to work it out."

"Sounds good." Sirius said. "So the house elves, they like us enough to dress up, yes?"

"I think we could persuade them to dress up like Christmas elves."

"Ooo!" Sirius shouted. "And we can get them to pass out those mint flavored chocolate candies that are shaped like Christmas tree!"

"And the peppermint licorice wands!" Peter said. "Those are my favorite!"

"Maybe we could get them to sing as well." Remus suggested. "James?"

"Yeah, sounds great." He said, standing up from the table. "I'll see you all later. I promised Professor Flitwick that I would turn in my last essay before I went to Quidditch practice."

"Alright," Sirius said. "But when we see you again you better be done moaning about Evans."

"I'm not moaning about- Gah!" He ran his hands through his hair angrily and then left the Great Hall.

"Was it something I said?" Sirius asked with mock concern.

oOoOo

Most of the third year girls were all in their dorm enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon. With only one week until winter holiday there was quite a scramble to complete all school work so they wouldn't have to worry about it when they were supposed to be packing.

"I'm just saying," Mary was saying when Lily walked out of the bathroom. "If Mrs. Potter isn't careful, Henderson's going to fire both her and Moody. Then what will happen to the D.M.L.E.?"

"Nothing good." Coral said from her bed. "My dad says that Moody is the only person keeping the ministry from becoming a power hungry monster."

"I leave for two minutes and you are all talking politics? I've been trying to get you all to talk about this for weeks now!" Lily said, plopping down on her bed. "I don't understand a lot of it because of all the blood politics."

"Me either." Arianna said from her place on the rug. "If Moody went against direct orders, why hasn't he been sacked?"

"Well," Bianca said. "Mostly because no one would like it if Moody was fired except two groups of people. Death Eaters and people who supported the law."

"And as much as you'd think that Death Eaters are the only people who supported the law, they weren't." Yvette said. "A whole bunch of old pure blood families thought that Henderson had the right idea. They didn't like sharing their hospital with muggles, even though the muggles were only there to be treated for magically inflicted wounds." She rolled her eyes and turned a page in her textbook. "Apparently my mum got into a fight with my granddad because he didn't see what all the fuss was about. I think they're still ignoring each other."

"My parents really haven't mentioned it at all." Bianca said. "Though I wouldn't be surprised if my grandparents were okay with the bill. I mean, muggles haven't always been allowed in St. Mungo's."

"Well, my dad is pissed." Mary said. "He's not telling me much, but I can tell. Especially since they got a quote from him in yesterday's Prophet."

"My dad hasn't said anything to me either." Bianca said. Her dad was an auror as well as Mary's. They had both been two of the aurors that Moody enlisted to stand guard outside muggles doors at St. Mungo's last week. Coral's dad was, along with Charles Potter and Beth Fortescue, one of the few healers who treated the Muggles.

"So, does anyone know what Henderson's going to do?"

"Hopefully resign." Carlee said. She was also lying on the floor, next to Arianna.

"Like that will happen." Mary laughed.

"A girl can hope." Carlee said, waving her off. "No, but in actuality, he's probably going to make a statement about how the ministry didn't take into account emergencies and that St. Mungo's was right to act the way they did."

"You think he'll backtrack that far?" Bianca asked. "I feel like that would be quite a pill for him to swallow."

"If he doesn't," Yvette said. "Then that give Mrs. Potter and Moody a chance to slid in and tell the public that the minister is unfit to lead us through this troubling time."

"Well then I hope he doesn't say that." Carlee said. "I think he will, but I really want him to get sacked."

"It's not going to happen." Mary said. "I want it to as well, but realistically speaking, it's not going to happen."

"Mary, you need to stop crushing my hopes."

"Sorry." Mary grinned. "I'm just being logical here."

"Well stop."

"Okay, that's all very helpful." Arianna said, sitting up and looking around her. "But has anyone seen my quill?"

"You can use one of mine." Carlee said, handing her one.

"No, I don't need one. I've got one." She held up the one she had been usuing. "But where's the one Bee got me for my birthday?"

"You lost your present?" Bianca laughed. "I had to pay extra to get your name engraved on it. It's so bloody long."

"I'm so sorry, Bee. It was in my bag earlier today. I used to do Arithmancy earlier today in the library. I must have left it there!"

"If it has your name on it," Carlee said, sitting up as well. "I'm sure someone will give it back. Though if you'd like, we can go look for it."

"Oh thank you, Carlee. It'll only take a couple minutes." The two girls left the room and Mary cast an apprehensive look in Lily's direction.

"That's the second thing she's lost recently."

"I noticed that as well." Lily said. "We should go tell McGonagall."

* * *

**AN: I know that I don't deserve them because it took me a disgusting amount of time to update, but reviews would be lovely. **


	18. A bit of Embarrassment and Winter Holid

**AN: Okay, so this one is a bit long and the next chapter set to be even longer I believe. Though it will be split into two parts. Two very long parts. Any way, thanks for waiting. Sorry it's taken so long and enjoy. :D**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: ** A bit of Embarrassment and Winter Holiday

Lily and Mary quickly made their way down to Professor McGonagall's office. When they knocked on her door, they were glad to find that she was actually there. Lily didn't know where else she would have looked for her Professor on a Sunday afternoon, and she was glad she didn't have to comb through the entire school.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, ladies?" McGonagall asked after Mary and Lily were both seated on the chairs in front of her desk.

"We have something very important to tell you." Mary said, leaning forward in her seat. "Truth be told, we should have told you this ages ago. Actually, Lily should have told you ages ago. Savanna _thought_ she did tell you, otherwise _she_ would have told you ages ago. And-"

"Mary," McGonagall interrupted. "I understand. You should have told me earlier, but you're here now. What is it you two wish to tell me?"

The two girls glanced at each other and the Lily spoke. "Do you remember how my badge was found under that parchment with the Death Eater propaganda on it?"

"Of course." McGonagall said, then her eyes narrowed slightly. "You're not here to confess, are you?"

"No! Of course not. Why would _I_ hang that up. No, I'm here to tell you that since about the time, someone has been stealing things from me."

"Stealing? That is very serious. Do you know who it is that's stealing from you?"

"No." Lily said. "I thought I did, but I'm not sure anymore."

"Well, what is it that's being stolen?" The girls exchanged another glance.

"I think what's more important," Mary started. "Is the fact that someone is taking other people's personal property, not so much what it is that they're taking." McGonagall tilted her head and looked at Mary sharply.

"What is being stolen from you, Lily?"

"Well, first it was my badge. Then a notebook, some notes, including my Herbology notes that were used to clog the drain, some quills and inkwells…" Lily hadn't realized how trivial all this sounded until she now, when she was saying it out loud. All of the items that had been taken from her she could have easily misplaced. And why would anyone want to steal some of her half empty inkwells? That just didn't make any sense.

"What proof do you have that someone is taking these items from you? How do you know that you're not just losing them?"

"I don't have proof." Lily said, looking at her hands. "I just know that I didn't lose them. I don't lose things."

"You do have proof!" Mary said, jumping in her seat and pointing a finger at Lily. "Two of the items that have been stolen from you have been used to make it look like you broke the school rules."

"So now, not only is someone stealing Lily's quills, they are also framing her for things that they do?"

"Yes!" Mary said, actually sounding relieved that McGonagall knew what she was trying to tell her. "They stole Lily's notes and then used them to clog the drain so that you would think it was Lily who clogged the drain." McGonagall blinked rapidly for a moment and then looked at Lily.

"Lily, you have already served your detentions for flooding the girls toilet, why are you coming to me with this now?"

"Oh come on, Professor." Mary sighed. "You don't honestly think that Lily would be thick enough to use parchment with her own name o-"

"I honestly do not think I asked for your input, Mary. Now please be quiet, I was talking to Lily." Mary blushed and looked down, falling against the back of her chair.

"I came to tell you now because I think it's going to happen again." Lily said, trying to stay confident. She could tell that McGonagall didn't believe anything she was saying. "Arianna's been losing things recently, and at first I didn't think anything off it. It was just some notes and I think she lost a hair brush last week," She looked at Mary, who nodded slightly. "But today she lost a quill that had her name on it."

"And you believe that someone _stole_ her quill?"

"Yes."

"And what exactly do you think they are going to do with it?"

"We think that they are going to leave it next to something to frame Arianna. Just like they did with me, Professor."

"We know it sounds ridiculous, Professor." Mary said, sitting up a bit straighter, but keeping her back against the chair. "But we're telling you the truth."

"Why did you not bring Arianna with you? Did she not believe you?"

"No, she- umm… Well," Mary stammered. "She went to go look for her quill in the library."

"I see." McGonagall said, nodding. "So you two aren't even sure if her quill is missing?"

"Well- no." Lily said. She could feel her cheeks heating up now.

"Well then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. If either of you find any proof, or lose something of actual value, then please come back and report it to me. But until then, I'm not particularly interested in hearing your harebrained schemes during my weekend afternoons. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Professor." They chorused.

"Thank you. Have a good evening."

The walk back to the Gryffindor tower was a quiet one. Both of the girls were disappointed in the outcome of that talk. They had both expected McGonagall to believe them. They hadn't realized that they had no evidence. They had both believed what they were saying to be true, so they hadn't even stopped to question it.

"It could all just be a coincidence." Lily sighed, as they walked through the porthole. "I mean, I did walk through that corridor, maybe my badge did just fall off on its own. And maybe I left my notes in the loo, or they fell out in there. And that's why they were used."

"You don't believe that."

"Not really, but that could be what happened."

"It _could_ be." Mary agreed.

The girls walked back up to their dormitory and when they opened the door, Carlee and Arianna were back.

"Where did you two rush off to?" Savanna asked. "You didn't even ask me if I wanted to go."

"Sorry." Lily said as she dropped onto her bed. "We went to go see McGonagall."

"Lily never told her about her things getting stolen."

"Lily." Savanna chided.

"Don't bother." Mary sighed. "McGonagall didn't believe us."

"She didn't believe you?" Carlee repeated. "Why not?"

"Because who steals Herbology notes?" Lily laughed. "That's why she didn't believe us."

"Okay, yeah. I can see her point." She allowed.

"What made you go tell her now though?" Savanna said. "Because you didn't bother to try and tell her a while ago, while you were being stolen from."

"I think it might be happening to Arianna now. I mean, her notes went missing a few weeks ago, and her quill-"

"No," Arianna said, holding up a golden feather quill. "We found it. Well, someone found it and gave it to the librarian. She was holding it for me at her desk."

"Oh." Lily said, her mouth forming a small 'o.'

"Now I feel like a prat." Mary said.

"Me too." Lily sighed.

oOoOo

Alice Fortescue was not normally a procrastinator. She was top of her class after all, and she couldn't really maintain that position while waiting until the last minute to study for exams or write her essays. But in this particular instance, the fact that she had yet to start her Charms essay even though it was due tomorrow, wasn't her fault. Not exactly anyway. Okay, so it was mostly her fault since she was the one who had forgotten about it completely. But the way she was choosing to think about it, someone really should have reminded her that the assignment even existed because it had utterly slipped her mind.

Of course, most of her friends didn't have to do the essay because they're third years. So they couldn't have reminded her about it. Maybe she should get a friend or two in her own year to remind her of when assignments were due. That would be helpful.

Mondays were always bad days simply because they were Mondays, but this Monday was especially bad now. She had spent the entire day stressing over when she would have time to write the essay. Finally, during lunch, Lily had offered to help her with it. And since Lily is the best at Charms, Alice gladly accepted the offer.

She was now browsing the Charms section of the library, looking for a book on color charms, preferably something small and easy to read. She was running her finger along the spins of the books and not paying all the much attention to anything but the titles, when she bumped into something. Someone, actually.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Alice whispered, looking away from the books and at the person she had just carelessly plowed into. Her victim was Frank Longbottom. He was in her house but a year ahead of her. She knew him only slightly because he sometimes sat with the Marauders and sometimes her and her friends sat near the Marauders as well. He never said much though. "I wasn't paying attention."

"A-Alice!" Frank stammered. "It's okay. I'm sorry too. I wasn't watching where I was walking. Sorry." Alice smiled at him and nodded.

"It's alright. I'm not hurt. What about you?"

"N-nope. I'm okay." Alice noticed that he was blushing and averted her eyes, looking back towards the books. Boys didn't normally act this way are her, all stuttering and nervous, and Alice didn't really know how she was supposed to respond to this type of behavior. All she knew was that just knowing that Frank was blushing was enough to make her cheeks burn a bit as well.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the fog that had settled in her head and cleared her throat. "So, you have Charms homework as well?"

"Nah," Frank said. He was looking at the books now as well. "I just- We have an exam next week and I just thought that I should start studying now. Charms isn't my best subject."

"Mine either." Alice said, even though it was. "I have Lily helping me with an essay that's due tomorrow. I completely forgot about it until this morning."

"Well, at least you've got Lily to help you. She's brilliant at Charms. Flitwick loves her."

"That's what Mary and Savanna say." Alice said. She turned to look at Frank now and noticed that he now had a book in his arms and was looking at the floor not instead of the shelves anymore. "So if you don't like Charms all that much, what is your favorite subject?"

"It's not that I don't like Charms," Frank said. He glanced up at her, but looked back down when he saw that she was looking at him. "I'm just not great at it. But Defense is probably my favorite."

"Mine too!" Alice smiled. "Though Transfigurations and Potions are a close second."

Frank looked up at her and crinkled his brow together. "I don't think you can have two close seconds."

"Well, I do." Alice said. "I like all of the subjects really. And if I can only have one favorite, then I'm going to have two close seconds." Frank laughed a bit and nodded.

"Alright, I suppose that's allowed."

"I'm glad you approve." She turned back to the books and continued to scan for a title that sounded promising.

"What's your essay about?" Frank asked.

"Color charms. We haven't actually done any yet, but he wants us to write about them. Actually, that's probably why I forgot about the essay."

"So it's just about the properties and origin then?"

"And the wrist movements." Both of them mimed the 'swish and flick' motion that Flitwick had them do about a dozen times every class and then both of them started laughing.

"Shhh." Alice said, still giggling. "Madam- Pince-"

"I know." Frank said, still smiling. Then he turned back to the shelves and scanned the row in front of him. "Oddly enough, I remember doing the essay about color charms." He ran his finger across a few of the books. "And this," He paused and pulled a book off the shelf. "Is the book I used. It was pretty useful, and explained everything in the most simplistic way possible, which I found helpful." He held the book out to her.

"Thanks, Frank." Alice smiled, taking the book from him. They both stood in awkward silence for a moment before Alice blushed and cleared her throat again. "Well, I should get started on this essay if I'm going to have it finished by tomorrow."

"Yeah, and this exam isn't going to study for itself." Frank joked, looking slightly more uncomfortable than he had when they first started talking.

"That's true." Alice nodded. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you later." He agreed. When Alice was almost out of the aisle, she heard him mutter to himself. "_'The exam isn't going to study for itself_,' well, that didn't make me sound like a git or anything." She grinned and then went off to join Lily at their table.

oOoOo

Carlee was walking down from the Owlery on her way to the Great Hall. She had just sent her Grandmother a letter to inform her that she would indeed be coming home for Christmas. She had not responded to her mother's first letter and instead waited until her Grandmother had contacted her since she knew that she would. And just as she had hoped, her Grandmother hadn't even mentioned the fact that Carlee had ignored her mom. She had let it slide, or maybe she just didn't know. Carlee wasn't entirely sure since either options seemed just as likely.

Her grandmother's letter was much more appreciated than her mother's fake nice letter and in it she had asked Carlee if she wanted to come home for Christmas. Carlee didn't want to go home, but she did feel obligated to now that her Grandmother had asked her. There was just something about her that made Carlee feel bad if she rejected an offer, or a cookie, or an invitation. Whatever it was that her Grandmother wanted her to do, she usually ended up doing it just to spare her conscious.

While she was contemplating whether or not her Grandmother knew about this talent that she had for guilting people into doing things for her, she walked at a leisurely pace down the corridor. She was swinging her arms at her sides and humming to herself when she first heard something. It sounded like a few girls voices coming from a corridor over. And it sounded like the girls were fighting. Curious, she went to see who it was.

"I never said that!" Someone shouted just as she walk into the corridor. "I had no reason to!"

"No reason?" A blonde haired girl snapped viciously. Carlee couldn't see either of the girls faces. One had their back to her and the other was standing directly in front of the first. "I never said that you needed a reason to say it, I only said that you did. Unless you want to tell me that my brother is making things up!"

"I don't even know who your brother is!" Carlee placed this voice as her sister Jane's and she became suddenly wary of what she had just walked in on. "And just because you have a low opinion of me doesn't mean you can march around spreading false rumors about me."

"I don't think that anything I said was false." The blonde girl hissed.

"Because your brother told you that I said it." Jane mocked, and Carlee could hear the eye roll that went along with her scathing tone. "Well I've got news for you, Palmer. I've never even seen your prat brother before! How would I have said anything to him!"

"Look, no one here is questioning the fact that you are a fantastic liar. There's no need to keep it up."

"Oh who stupid mo-"

"Excuse me! What were you about to call me?"

"A _moron._" Jane said exasperatedly, running both of her hands through her hair. "I was going to call you a moron. Contrary to what you seem to think, I don't walk around the school screaming racial slurs at people. Are we done now?" Not waiting for an answer, Jane started walking off down the corridor.

"Jane?" Carlee said, causing both of the girls to jump slightly and look up at her. She didn't know why she felt it was necessary to say anything. She could have just walked away and no one would have been the wiser, but her sister seemed upset and she wanted to fix it. It probably had something to do with their new found friendship. "What is all this about?" Jane Baker shot a glare at the Palmer girl and then took a few steps towards her sister.

"She's spreading lies about me." She cried, pointing her finger at the girl who Carlee was fairly sure she had never seen before. Which isn't all the surprising. The girl was a year older than her and sporting a Ravenclaw tie.

"Hullo." Carlee said, smiling at girl. "I'm Carlee, Jane's sister. Who are you?"

"Victoria Palmer." The girl said, crossing her arms. "And I'm not spreading lies. Jane called my little brother the M-word."

"I did not!" Jane said. "Carlee, tell her I wouldn't do that."

Carlee looked back and forth between the two girls and sighed. She didn't know who was telling the truth. Jane and her may have been getting along much better than they normally do, but that didn't mean that Carlee knew everything her sister did now. They had only had a few study sessions over the last few weeks. That didn't mean she know where exactly Jane drew the line on these issues. But Jane was her sister, so she did was she was expected to do. "If Jane says she didn't do it, I believe her."

"Of course you would say that. But that means you think my brother lied." Victoria said, and the look she was giving Carlee was actually more than slightly intimidating. "He's a first year. Why would he lie about something like this?"

"I don't know. Maybe he got a couple names mixed up." Carlee shrugged. "But you can't get upset with me for not believing your brother when you're standing there calling my sister a liar. Jane, let's go to dinner, yes?"

"Sounds good to me." Jane nodded and the two girls took off towards the Great Hall. Victoria huffed but didn't try and follow them.

When they were far enough away from Victoria, Jane grabbed Carlee's arm and spun her around so they were facing each other. "I didn't call anyone the M-word. I swear I didn't."

And instead of brushing it off like it was no big deal, or pretending like she had never let her mind entertain the contrary, Carlee looked into her sister's eyes and looked for sincerity, something she knew Jane couldn't fake. When she found it, she smile. "I know."

"I don't even know how this all came about." Jane sighed, looking a relived and confused. "I haven't been out of my common room much in the last week except to study with you last Thursday. I've been studying for this huge Transfiguration exam that McMonster set the day before we leave for Christmas hols. Speaking of which-"

"Wait," Carlee laughed. "Did you just call Professor McGonagall, _McMonster_?"

"Sorry, yes. Some Slytherins started doing it a couple years ago when she told them off for sneaking down to the Great Hall in the middle of the night to hold an Exploding Snaps tournament." Carlee laughed even more but Jane didn't smile. "Don't get me off subject yet," She said sternly. "Are you coming home for Christmas?"

"Yeah." Carlee said, her smiling falling from her face. "Grandma asked me to."

"Good." Jane said. "Though, it's unfair, isn't it?"

"How she can just-"

"Guilt you into doing anything!" Jane finished. "Though I'm glad she guilted you into going home. It would be weird not having you there."

"Thanks, but…" Carlee cast a side look at Jane and then started walking again. "I don't really want to go back."

"You never do." Jane shrugged.

Carlee could tell her everything right now. She could lay it all out in the open and get it off her chest. She could give Jane some of the burden to bare, and part of her really wanted to. Part of her wanted to sit down and just tell her everything. But that part was very small. So instead of telling the truth she just nodded and said, "You know how well Mom and I get along."

"Yeah, about as well as most Slytherins and Gryffindors during the week of our Quidditch match. Only you're louder and angrier."

"I find it unpleasant to be around her." Carlee said, trying not to think too much now. This whole lying thing used to be a lot easier when she wasn't talking to anyone that she could tell the truth to.

"You find it unpleasant?" Jane laughed. "How do you think the rest of us feel? Maybe you should just bite your tongue this year, yeah? Let us all enjoy Christmas?"

"Maybe that would be best." Carlee nodded.

"Then it's settled. Whenever you want to yell at Mom, you can just come find me."

Carlee looked over at Jane. "Is that what was just settled?" The way that Jane was looking straight ahead with her lips pressed into a thin line made Carlee think that she knew something that she wasn't telling her. It was a classic Jane face. She couldn't help it. Whenever she was trying to keep something from someone, that is the face she would make. "What is it Jane?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing."

"Don't 'hm? Oh nothing' me. What is it?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about." Something about the way she said it made Carlee's stomach drop. Suddenly, she really wished she hadn't just owled her Grandmother with the promise to come home.

oOoOo

"I can't believe you're doing this to me." Sirius said, all traces of humor had left his voice. Just moments ago, the boys were putting the finishing touches on their Christmas prank, and now they were discussing the holiday. "All three of you are going home for Christmas?"

"It's not as though we have a choice." Peter said. "It's Christmas, we _have_ to go home."

"But I'd leave you anyway." James said. "I've had just about enough of you and all your jokes that have been at my expense. Plus, dad's out of the hospital and mum's taking time off. Of course I'm going home you prat."

"You sounded like his dad or something at the beginning there." Remus said from over by his bed. He was packing his trunk. Well, he was trying to. Every time Remus would turn around to get something else to put in his trunk, Sirius would reach in and take something out.

"What am I supposed to do for two weeks by myself?" Sirius asked, taking a jumper out of Remus's trunk and tossing it onto Peter's bed.

"You could go home." Peter suggested. Sirius scoffed in response.

"I'm sure not everyone is going home." James said, picking up Remus's things that Sirius had thrown and bringing them back to Remus.

"Hey!" He said, not having noticed what Sirius was doing before. "Stop that."

"Why don't you go ask the girls or something?" James said, tossing his own jumpers into his trunk.

"I don't want to hang around the girls for two weeks either." Sirius sighed. "And I already asked the other guys. Frank and Orion are both going home. I hope Stephen's going home and I don't care what Carl and Ian do."

"Beggars can't be choosers." Remus said.

"Shut up, Remus." Sirius snapped. James sighed and sat down next to him.

"I asked McGonagall if you could come home with me for the hols," James said.

"Really!" Sirius asked, jumping up. "Why didn't you tell me your bloody-"

"I didn't tell you because she said that the only way that that was allowed was if you got permission from your parents." James finished. "And for some reason, I just don't see them agreeing to let you come over to _my_ house for Christmas." Sirius's smile fell for a moment, but then he laughed.

"James!" He said, exasperatedly. "We don't have to tell anyone!"

"What are you talking about?" James said.

"Mate, I can tell McGonagall that I've changed my mind and that I want to go home. Then we can just tell your parents that my parents said it was alright."

"We could try it." James shrugged, grinning at his best friend. "If it gets you to stop pouting."

"I wasn't pouting."

"You were too." Remus said at the same time that Peter said, "Were so."

"Shove off." Sirius said, still grinning.

"Look," Remus sighed. "I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but don't you two think you should think this through a bit more? You could both get into serious trouble if it doesn't work out."

"Nah," James said. "I'll claim ignorance."

"How would you do that?" Remus asked.

"I'll tell people he confounded me."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Just be careful, alright?"

"Yeah yeah." Sirius said, walking over to his bed to start his own packing. "This might turn out to be an alright Christmas after all."

oOoOo

Lily stood at the Hogsmeade platform, momentarily alone, wrapped in her maroon scarf and gray knit cap. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold and her shoulders were collecting stray snowflakes. She was looking back towards the castle, admiring the snowcapped mountains and white forest that surrounded it. She wondered if she would ever stay at Hogwarts for Christmas one year. The thought was both exciting and sad. She had never been apart from her family during Christmas, but the thought of being almost alone at Hogwarts had a special kind of appeal to it.

"Well don't you look like something straight out of a holiday card." James said, walking up next to her and smiling widely. Lily grinned back, not minding his company. And lately it's been like that. He was nice and friendly and so in turn, so was she. She even enjoyed his company sometimes.

"Where are your mates?" She asked, looking around him and not spotting any of the other three Marauders. "Aren't they going home as well?"

"Peter got his trunk stuck in the carriage door while Sirius was still inside." James shrugged. "Remus is laughing at them, and I saw you here so I came over."

She laughed. "Shouldn't you go help them?"

"If they don't know how to use a shrinking charm by now then they deserve what they get." Lily shrugged.

"I suppose so."

"And your mate?" James asked.

"I haven't seen Carlee since this morning." Lily said, looking around to make sure the girl in question wasn't around. "And Mary hates the cold so she dragged Savanna on the train already, not that Savanna was complaining. I was just out here enjoying the view."

"I'd say me too, but that seems rather unoriginal." James grinned. Lily didn't know what he meant by that at first but when she worked it out she just shook her head.

"Rather unoriginal indeed." She agreed, still focusing on the castle and the mountains. "That prank you all pull however, that was fairly original."

"You think?" James laughed. "Using the elves was actually Peter's idea and Remus asked them is they would sing. Sirius and I were in charge of the outfits though."

"They looked great." Lily smiled. "How did you get the to agree to that though?"

"The house elves like having fun, Lily." James said. "Plus, they love us."

"Of course they do." She said, shaking her head. "Are you looking forward to going home?" James nodded.

"It should be great. Mum's taken off a couple of days and Sirius is coming over too."

"And how's your dad?"

"I've been told that he's as good as new." James said. "But I won't know for sure until I see him."

"I'm sure he's fine." Lily said. "They wouldn't lie to you, would they?"

"Probably." James shrugged. "But I think he's alright. I mean, I was there when he woke up and he just seemed frustrated and angry, not sickly and frail."

"Well, that's… good." Lily said. James laughed.

"I don't know if it's good, but I think it's a pretty normal reaction to being poisoned."

"Yeah, I suppose." Lily agreed.

"And are you excited to go home?"

"I think so." She said. "My grandmum and her sister are coming over. Great aunt Judith is quite an eccentric person so she always makes things entertaining to say the least." Then she laughed suddenly, causing James to grin. "A few years ago, when we were over at her house for Christmas, she had a bit too much brandy, took her wig off and started singing Christmas carols. My grandmum was _sooo_ upset with her but it was hilarious."

"Sounds like a fun time." James said. "The ham roast catching fire is the most interesting thing to happen when my relatives get together for holidays. And that may have been my fault."

"Of course it was." Lily laughed. "Why did you catch the ham on fire?"

"It was an accident. My mum thought it was a good idea to let me light the candles with her wand. She was busy with something and wasn't watching me, I was about five."

"Lily!" Someone called, from the train. Lily looked up to see Mary sticking her head out of a compartment window. "Lily come on. Savanna is doing that _thing_ again!"

"What thing?" Lily called back.

"That thing she does when she's upset but doesn't want to talk about it."

"Shut up, Mary!" Lily heard Savanna call.

"I should go." Lily said, turning to James. "Have a good train ride."

"You too." James said. For a moment, Lily thought James was going to try and hug her, but he took a step back and ran his hand through his hair instead. "I'll see in next year."

"Or at the Kings Cross." Lily said. Then she ran towards the train and went to find her friends.

* * *

**AN: Don't forget to review. Reviews get you more 13-year-old Jily fluff. (Actually I've already wrote most of the next chapter so you'll really get it either way, but I'd still like some reviews. They are nice and stuff.)**


	19. Christmas Holidays: Part 1

**AN: This chapter is very very long and comes in two parts because I wasn't going to have a 12k word chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the drama that is about to unfold. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Christmas Holiday (Part 1)**

Once Lily found the compartment that her friends had claimed, she fell into a seat across from Savanna and sighed. "Well, are you going to talk to us or not?" She asked, not bothering with any preamble. Savanna had been in an unpleasant mood for the last week. Only half as long as Carlee had been avoiding them and giving extra false smiles to everything they said.

"No." Savanna said. She was slouched down against the seat back and had her arms crossed over her chest. Lily had never seen Savanna act so… childish.

"We're not going to let you just sit there and look all upset for the whole ride." Mary said, her arms crossed over her chest as well. "Now speak, girl."

"I don't see either of you trying to find Carlee, who we all know is more upset than I am right now. I'm just pissed at Giselle because she's being a bloody twat."

"Savanna House," Mary said, her eyes wide. "Did you just say 'pissed,' 'bloody' and 'twat' in the same sentence?"

"Yes, Mary." Savanna sighed. "I'm upset, I swore. Grow up please." Lily shook her head at the irony in that statement and then sighed.

"I don't know where Carlee is." She said. "Or if talking to her would help anything. She doesn't like talking about her problems with us. You seem to like talking yours out."

"Not now." Savanna said. "Maybe later."

"We're holding you to that." Mary said. "And how did Carlee manage to sneak away from us anyway?" Savanna and Lily told her they didn't know.

A few minutes later Lily got up to put her scarf and hat in her trunk that was already up on the rack thanks to Mary. "So," Mary said while Lily was standing on her seat to reach her trunk. "What were you and James talking about?"

The way she asked made Lily roll her eyes, though Mary could see her at the moment so it was mostly for her own benefit. "Holiday plans."

"Oh," Mary said, sounding fairly excited. "Are you going to see him then?"

"What?" Lily asked, climbing down off the seat and looking at Mary. "No, he asked me what I was doing for Christmas and I asked him what he was doing. We didn't make plans."

"Oh." Now she sounded disappointed.

"I told you." Savanna muttered. "But you wouldn't listen to me."

"Why would I see Potter over hols?"

"I don't know, you two are friends, yeah?"

"I don't know." Lily said, for some reason feeling uncomfortable about the seemingly simple question. "We talk sometimes."

"More than usual lately." Mary added.

"I suppose." Lily allowed. "But he's being _un_-usually friendly and non-pratish."

"I suppose." Mary mimicked, grinning at her.

"You're wrong, Mary." Savanna muttered again. "Don't even bring it up, alright?"

"I wasn't going to." Mary said. "_She_ has to."

"I have to what?" Lily asked, looking between her two friends. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing dear." Mary said in an extremely patronizing tone. "Nothing at all."

"I don't like it when you two do that." Lily said. "Talk about me when I'm standing right in front of you."

"I know." Savanna said. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not." Mary said. "Anyway, I think I'll go find some food now."

"Mary," Savanna said, sitting up a bit straighter. "We had breakfast less than an hour ago."

"I know, but I haven't had a pumpkin pasty in forever."

"Bring me back one as well please." Lily said. "And if you see Carlee-"

"I'll forcefully restrain her and drag her here."

"Sounds good." Savanna said, slouching back down.

"Just ask her to come here, don't upset her even more."

"She's a person Lily, not a Farrell cat." Mary said.

"You're the one who wanted to tie her up." Lily scoffed.

"Whatever." Mary rolled her eyes and walked out of the compartment. The two girls watch Mary vanish from their sight. As soon as she was gone, Lily stood up, closed the door to the compartment and locked it. Then she turned around, one hand on her hip and looked Savanna in the eyes.

"Talk." She ordered. Savanna sighed again, but sat up straighter.

"She doesn't understand." She whispered, covering her face with her hands.

"Mary or Giselle?" Lily asked, sitting down and putting an arm around her.

"Both I suppose." She said, leaning towards Lily. "I mean, Mary's not an only child, but her brother is older than her and she only sees her step-siblings every other weekend during summers. She's been taken care of her whole life and she just doesn't get it."

"It's not her fault, Savanna."

"Oh, no! I know that." She looked up, a bit alarmed. "It's not her fault, and I'm glad she's never been in my position. But it's hard to talk to her. At least you sort of understand."

"I have very little idea what you're talking about." Lily said, wanting to help but feeling lost.

"Right." Savanna sighed. "Well here's what's going on; Giselle wanted to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. We've been fighting about it since back in early November. Some of her friends were staying and she wants to stay with them. I told her that mum was expecting us and it would make the little kids really sad if we didn't go home and she looked at me and said, 'it's not my job to take care of them.'

"And it's not, you know. Why should she have to worry about them? Why shouldn't she stay up at the castle if she wants? So I was going to tell her that she could stay if she wanted to, that I didn't mind and I was even going to apologize for fighting her on this. But then mum wrote me and… well…" She leant back and looked at Lily. "Do you ever feel like you have to take care of your parents?"

"Not really." Lily said.

"Oh come on, I know you do." Savanna bit her lip. "Like, have you told them anything about the Death Eaters? Or explained blood statuses to them?"

"Well, no."

"Why not?"

"I guess I just don't want them to worry." Lily said. "And I don't want them to tell me I can't go back to Hogwarts."

"Okay, sure. And when they ask about school, do you go into detail? Or do you just explain the basics so they don't feel overwhelmed." Lily crinkled her brow and looked down at her hands. She didn't do that, did she? She always answered their questions, not extensively but she told them enough.

"I suppose I try not to overwhelm them." Lily said. "I mean, it's a lot to take in."

"Sure." Savanna said nodding. "See, you do understand. My mum just doesn't get it. She thinks that we're all just going to Hogwarts for fun and that magic is just a past time. It's not her fault, she doesn't know anything about the wizarding world, only what I've been able to tell her. I mean, since my dad left, the kids and I haven't really been to Diagon alley apart from buying mine and Giselle's school supplies. The kids can't tell her much. I don't know how to explain to her just what it means to be part of the wizarding world. And I don't think I want to." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I feel like I'm hiding something from her so that she doesn't shut me out or something.

"I feel like I have to protect her from Giselle because Giselle doesn't seem to care. I feel like I have to take care of Violet and Hazel because they have magic and my mum doesn't know what to do when they accidentally use it. I am constantly writing home to all three of them, making sure that everything is alright and my mum is always writing to me, asking questions about the kids and… I don't feel like I'm her daughter most of the time. I feel like I have to take care of everyone and it's not a good feeling, Lily."

"That's a lot to bare, Savanna." Lily sighed, feeling slightly heavier just having listened to her. "And not exactly fair. You shouldn't feel like you have to take-"

"Lily, I appreciate where you're coming from, but it is how it is. I have to take care of them because, to put it bluntly, my mum isn't able to. I worry about them all the time, and I know Mary and Carlee and you don't understand it, but they're my responsibility."

"Okay." Lily said, not knowing what else she could say. Fortunately she wasn't given much time to come up with anything because there was a commotion just outside the compartment.

"Why won't the door open?" Mary shouted. "I found Carlee, now let us in."

"Don't tell either of them." Savanna whispered. "I don't want to talk to either of them about it. Especially not Mary."

"I won't." Lily said, standing up and unlocking the door.

"It's about time." Mary said, walking in as soon as the door was slid open. "Carlee was getting ready to jolt."

"I was not." Carlee laughed, following Mary inside. "Though it wouldn't have been odd if I was trying to get away from you. You did kidnap me."

"I may have… forcefully, suggested that you come and join us in this compartment."

"You dragged me away from my sister will I was talking to her."

"I don't remember that happening."

"I was mid-sentence."

"I don't think so."

"Whatever, Mary."

"Whatever indeed." Mary agreed.

oOoOo

By this point in their life, James and Sirius had lied to a lot of different people together and apart. They had both lied to their professors to get them out of trouble. They had lied to the head students and to prefects, they had lied to their roommates as well. But there was something about lying to his parents that never sat right with James. He always had this nagging sense that they could tell when he was lying and because of that, it made him slightly nervous.

He could also be nervous because this wasn't going to be a normal lie. He had to tell his parents that Sirius's parents were okay with him staying with them over the entire holiday even though they refused to let Sirius come over during the last few weeks of summer. He also had to make sure they didn't want to check, because at least one of Sirius's parents were at the platform to pick up Regulus. And they had been extremely lucky on that front as well, Regulus hadn't happened upon Sirius at all, or seen him yet. The possibility was still there, but they were so close, James wasn't allowing himself to think that it might happen.

He was starting to regret not listening to Remus when he told them to plan this whole thing out more. He would have taken the time to do so, he hated seeing Sirius all upset because the Black family was a load of tossers, and James was also one of those people who thought that no one should be alone and miserable on Christmas. So he had to get his best friend to his house, he just didn't understand why it had to be so difficult to accomplish.

The two boys were almost the last to get off of the train, purposefully waiting until they saw Regulus exit so they could see which direction he was headed. James knew that his parents were going to wait for him at the end of the train because they knew that that is where the Marauders sat when they were riding. And, as luck would have it, Regulus walked off towards the front of the train. They waited a few more minutes just to be safe and then got their trunks down from the rack and walked onto the platform.

"I told you this was going to be easy." Sirius said, taking care to look slightly towards the ground and not turn his head much.

"You're acting like a criminal." James said. "You look suspicious, loosen up."

"James! Sirius! Over here!" His mother called, attracting attention of some of the people around the boys. Both of them froze and James peaked around his shoulder, but no one seemed to have cared that she called for Sirius as well as him.

"I think we're good." James said. Then he plastered a smile on his face and hissed, "Act natural or she'll see right through us."

"I know what I'm doing, James." Sirius muttered.

"Shut up and smile at my mum."

"You shut up." He said, but he did as James advised.

"It's so good to see you!" Liza Potter said, throwing her arms around James. "I know it hasn't really been that long, but still, I've missed you." She kissed him on the cheek, much to James's dismay and then turned to Sirius. "And you," She said, wrapping her arms around him. "I've missed you as well. How are you, dear?"

"I'm just peachy, Mrs. Potter." Sirius grinned.

"That's wonderful." She smiled. "I'm sorry your dad isn't here at the moment James, but Moody came over to the house minutes before I left and he was actually there to speak with him so I came to pick the two of you up, but we do have to get back soon. I'm quite curious as to what they were talking about." She started walking towards the barrier and the boys followed quickly behind her.

"Sounds good." James nodded. "Are there any cookies in our house yet?"

"Don't insult me." His mum laughed. "Of course there are." Then she stopped suddenly, causing James to almost walk into her. "Sirius, are you sure your parents are alright with this? I mean it is a holiday after all."

"_Mum_." James hissed.

"Trust me, Mrs. Potter, I won't be missed."

"Sirius," She huffed. "I'm sure that's not true. Do you want to say goodbye to them at least?"

"No." He said quickly. "No I don't." James didn't think there was anything suspicious about the way he answered, but he still felt his throat tighten when his mother turned her gaze to him. She raised her eyebrows slightly and James shrugged.

"If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to." He said. "Now let's go see what Moody wants, yeah?"

"Wait a moment," She said, no longer looking at either of the boys but behind them. "Is that Felicity McKinnon?"

"Probably, come on mum."

"No." She said, looking down at James. "I haven't seen Felicity since she was seven or eight years old. I'm going to go say hullo." She started to walk away and James and Sirius exchanged looks.

"I think she knows." James said. "She knows we want to leave, she's doing this on purpose."

"Come on, boys!" She called over her shoulder.

"We're going to get in trouble." Sirius said. "James, I don't want to go home."

"You're not going to, now come on." He left his trunk near the barrier and walked after his mum. "You're parents probably already left, right?"

"I don't know. But if someone else sees me and tells them…"

"They think you're staying at school, they won't jump to the conclusion that you snuck off to my house."

"We need to get out of here, James."

"What do you want me to do? Give you my invisibility cloak?" When he said it, he meant it as a joke, but when he looked at Sirius after he said it, it actually seemed like a good idea.

"Do you have it on you?" Sirius asked. James gave him a look and then pulled the cloak out of his pocket. "Great, tell your mum I went to the loo or something."

"Sure." James said. "Wait," He grabbed Sirius's arm to stop him from putting the cloak on. "You can't do it right here, people will see. Go over behind that pillar." He pointed to a brick pillar that was a few feet from where they were standing.

"Right." Sirius said, rushing over. After a moment James heard him whisper, "Okay, I'm just going to walk behind you."

"Or you could go stand by the luggage." James said. "There'd be less of a chance of someone walking into you."

"Probably." Sirius whispered.

It was quiet after that, but James wasn't sure if Sirius had listened to him or not and his mum was giving him the stink eye so he rushed up to her and Felicity.

"Where did Sirius run off to?" She asked.

"The loo. He downed about three bottles of pumpkin juice in the last hour, I'm surprised he made it this long."

"Alright, well we were just invited to spend new year's with the McKinnons. Doesn't that sound much more fun that going to your father's mum's?"

"Mum, you can't say things like that." James laughed. "But yes. Yes it does." Felicity and her mum laughed. As his mum started talking to Felicity's, he caught sight of a flash of red. He excused himself from the group and walked up to Lily. She seemed to be having a bit of trouble getting her trunk off the train.

"Here, let me help." James said, walking up and taking it at the opposite end. "It's always easier with two."

"Thanks." She said, when they had managed to get it onto the ground. "Three people walked by without even offering to help me, my wand is in my trunk and I don't know where my parents are."

"I'm sure they're around, looking for you." James said.

"Probably." She sighed. "And I told you that I'd see you again this year." She grinned. He laughed and shook his head.

"If you could get your trunk down by yourself, I wouldn't have come over here."

"No?"

"Well," He shrugged. "I might have still come over here." She ducked her head a bit and laughed. James smiled. "So, why were you still on the train? Everyone else got off almost fifteen minutes ago."

"I know," Lily sighed, looking up and brushing her hair away from her face. "I know. But Mary made me hide from her mum with her for a while and then Savanna couldn't fine her sister and I couldn't find Carlee to say goodbye." She took a deep breath. "I love my friends, honestly I do, but I'm sort of glad to be getting away from them for a while."

"I'd say I understand, but I have to bring Sirius home with me for the holiday." That's when he found out that Sirius was still following him because he felt a sharp jab in his back. "Ow!"

"What's the matter?" Lily asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing." James said, turning around and glaring at where he thought Sirius was standing. He thought about mouthing 'go away' but he didn't want anyone else to see him and question his sanity. "Anyway, I hope you have a nice break away from your friends." He said. "I should get back to my mum before she accepts any more invitations to people's houses."

Lily laughed. "Alright, and there are my parents as well. Have a happy Christmas."

"You too, Evans." He grinned.

oOoOo

Lily didn't actually mind the long car ride home. Her sister didn't come to the station to pick her up with her parents, and that had hurt a bit while they were there, but now that they were almost home, Lily actually appreciated the quiet. She hadn't heard a single scathing remark about herself or magic and she found that she was not as upset as she maybe should have been.

"You've been fairly quiet, Lils." Her dad said from the driver's seat. "Is something wrong? Is it a boy?" He sounded worried and Lily laughed.

"No daddy, it's not a boy." She sighed and looked out the window. Everything that Savanna had said to her was still playing in her head. Then there was Carlee as well. She didn't know _what_ was wrong exactly, but just knowing something was wrong was enough to make her feel bad. Plus, she was feeling a bit guilty about Severus too because he had seemed upset that she was going home for the hols when he was staying at the castle. "It's my friends. Do you ever just want to step in and make everything okay for someone? To fix everything?"

"Of course." Her mum said, turning as much as she could to face Lily. "When you care about someone, it's natural to want to help them out."

"But what if there's really nothing you can do?" Lily asked. "What if you have other obligations, or helping them out is just out of your hands?"

"Sometimes," Her dad said, peeking back at her through the rearview mirror. "Just being there for someone can make all the difference in the world."

"And what if I don't know how to be there for them?"

"Do you want to talk it out?" Her mum asked. "We can do that if you'd like."

"I don't know if I should tell you." Lily said.

"We're your parents." Her mum said. "We're not going to tell anyone." Lily contemplated that and then agreed. She did need to talk to someone about it anyway.

"Well, let's start with the smaller issues."

"Sounds reasonable." Her dad nodded.

"I feel guilty for leaving Sev alone during the holiday. I mean, he doesn't really have a lot of close friends apart from me and he was staying at the castle…"

"He can't ask you to stay." David said quickly. "He can't ask you to not see your family-"

"He didn't ask me to not come home. I just feel bad for leaving him alone."

"Well, did you ask him to come home?" Rose asked.

"Yes." Lily sighed. "But he didn't want to."

"Then you did all you should have there." Her dad said. "You can write to him if you'd like."

"I don't have an owl, so I really can't. Not until he writes me anyway."

"Do you want an owl?" Her mum asked. "I mean, that is how your ki- Witches and wizards communicate, right?"

"I would like one." Lily said, choosing to ignore her mother's correction. "It would be a lot more convenient."

"Well maybe we can go into Dragon Alley later on in the month." She said smiling. Lily smiled too and didn't bother to correct her mother. "It's such a fascinating place. Anyway, what are your other troubles?"

"Oh, right." Lily bit her lip for a moment. "My friend Carlee, well I honestly have no idea what she's going through. She won't talk to any of us about anything."

"And you're friends with her?" Her dad asked, slightly confused. "How are you friends with someone who doesn't talk?"

"She talks," Lily tried to explain. "Sorry, she just doesn't talk about her home life or anything. She likes to keep all of that a secret."

"Is this Carlee Baker? Ella's sister?" Her mum asked. Lily nodded and looked down. "Well, couldn't that have a lot to do with her wanting to keep to herself? Twins are a little different from normal siblings, they have a very unique bond."

"I know that, and I know that she misses Ella, but this is something different. It's something new."

"Look, Lils," Her dad said. "You've got a big heart and we love you for it, you're one of the sweetest people I know. But you can't fix everything. You can't save people, especially when they don't want you to save them. All you can do is let Carlee and Sev know that you are there for them if they need you and that's about it. If they don't want to talk to you, you can't make them."

"I know but-"

"Do you think she's in danger?" Her mum said. Lily said no. "Well, then you just have to be patient and wait for her to come to you. And Sev."

Lily didn't like those answers, and thinking they would say the same thing about Savanna, she chose not to tell them about her situation.

"I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but there is nothing you can do to just make everything better." Her dad said. "Sorry, Lils."

"It's alright. I just hate seeing my friends so upset."

"I know, dear." Her mum reached around and patted her knee.

They arrived home shortly after that and Lily's dad offered to take her trunk up to her room leaving just her and her mum to walk into the house.

"Now, you know what my mum can be like." She whispered, "But just ignore her. She's not saying anything to be mean, she just… Wants everyone to be happy."

"Mum, every single time she sees me she asks me when I'm going to quit boarding school and go back to school with Tuney. I don't understand why we can't just tell her the truth." She didn't mean to say it, she had always been careful not to say things like that before, but it slipped out. She saw her mother press her lips together and she stopped walking.

"Lily, your dad and I love you so very much. And we are so proud of everything that you've done." She put her hand on Lily's shoulder. "But I don't know what your grandmother would do if she knew." Everything Savanna had said to her earlier today came rushing back to her. How she felt like she had to take care of her mum and her sister's because her mum is a muggle. How she kept things about the magical world from her so she didn't overwhelm her and thinking about all of that made Lily extremely determined.

"I know how she can be, mum. But I want to tell her. I want her to know why I can't just quit boarding school, I want her to know why going to school is so important to me. I want her to understand."

"I know, dear. But my mum isn't as understanding as I'd like her to be. I just don't want her to say something hurtful to you."

"I'm still her granddaughter, what's the worst she would do?" Lily said. Her mum still looked worried but Lily could see that she was coming around.

"I'm not sure that it's a good idea, but if you want to tell her, then we'll do it together." Lily smiled up at her and then hugged her.

"Thanks, mum."

oOoOo

"It would have been easier to floo home." Giselle snapped as she and Savanna dragged their trunks back to the room they shared. "And a lot faster as well."

"Giselle, our fireplace isn't hooked up to the floo network. What do you want me to do?" Instead of giving her an answer, Giselle just sighed loudly. "You need to stop that, right now."

"Stop what? I'm not doing anything?"

"You're acting like a brat." Savanna said, making sure to lower her voice so their mum wouldn't hear. "I mean, are you really all that surprised that mum wanted you to come home for hols? If you didn't she would see you again until summer."

"I would have come home for Easter." The younger sister said bitterly.

"You would have planned to until it came time and you realized how many exams you had to study for and that all of your friends were staying."

"Stop acting like you're in charge of me." Giselle said. "You're only two years older than me, I can make my own decisions."

"I never said you couldn't." Savanna said, trying very hard to not get upset again. "I just wish that you would take other people's feelings into consideration before you make your decisions." Giselle huffed at her again. "I'm going to see if mum needs help with dinner, you can stay here and unpack you things. Put all your dirty clothes in the hamper so that I don't have to dig around for them later."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Okay. Do what you want. But if you don't put your clothes in the hamper then you're going to be wearing dirty clothes because I won't clean them." She stalked out of the room and out towards the kitchen where things were less tense, but stranger. Violet was scampering around her mother's feet holding a broken doll and some lipstick.

"Mummy," The nine almost ten-year-old girl said loudly, trying very hard to get the older woman's attention. "Mummy, look at what Hazel did to my doll! She used your lip stick in her hair and then her head fell off!"

"Darling, I'm sure it was an accident. Now please take that out of the kitchen and clean it up."

"Why should I do it? Hazel's the one that made the mess."

"And where is Hazel now?" Savanna asked, walking up to Violet and bending down so that they were face to face.

"Hiding under her bed." Violet said, crossing her arms, doll and lipstick still in hand. "She knows that she's going to be in trouble."

"Let's go talk to her." Savanna said. "We'll ask her why she thought it was okay for her to do this-"

"No!" Violet shouted, stomping her foot to punctuate her irritation. When she shouted, the lights in the house flickered. "I." Flicker. "Don't." Flicker. "Want." Flicker. "To!"

"HAZEL ELIZABETH HOUSE, YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" Savanna jumped slightly as her mother raised her voice and shouted for her youngest sister. She looked down at Violet to see that she looked extremely pleased with herself and not at all surprised that their mum had just shouted. Savanna was surprised. Their mum _never_ shouted. She didn't know what to do.

Hazel came into the kitchen, shuffling and looking at her feet. "Yes, mummy." She asked. Their mum turned away from the meat she was preparing and glared at Hazel.

"What have I told you about breaking your sister's things?" She asked sternly. "How would you like it if Violet went around breaking your things?"

"But she gave the doll to me." Hazel said. "And I was just trying to make her pretty."

"I did not give my doll to you." Violet said. "And she's broken, not pretty!" She held up the two parts of the doll to prove her point. Hazel started sniffling and suddenly their mum looked panic-stricken.

"Don't cry, baby." She said quickly, dropping down in front of Hazel and hugging her. "I'm sure it was just an accident."

"It was." Hazel said, still sniffling. Violet on the other hand looked even more angry.

"It was NOT!" She shouted, causing the lights to flicker again.

"Hazel, Violet," Savanna said, having seen enough of this disaster. "Go to your room, now. I need to talk to each of you." The two younger girls each got wide eyed and didn't say anything. They quickly did as Savanna told them to and when Savanna and her mum were alone in the kitchen her mum sighed.

"I know what you're going to say." She said quickly. "But this doesn't happen all the time."

"Mum," Savanna said. "They were playing you. Hazel was just pretending that she was going to cry, you should know that. When she is actually going to cry her face gets all red first."

"I know." Her mum said. "But you should see what happens when she actually does cry." She looked around the kitchen and shuttered. "It's terrifying."

"And they know that you think so." Savanna said. "They're taking advantage of you."

"What am I supposed to do, Savvy." She sighed. "I can't _magically_ fix the things that they break. I can't stop it from happening, I just have to stand here and wait for it to stop."

Savanna didn't really know what to say about that. She had assumed that was the reason behind her mother's odd behavior, but she still didn't know if she even had any advice to give her. "I'm going to go talk to them." Her mother nodded and Savanna followed her sisters towards the back of the house.

The House's home was a small, one-story flat atop her mother's bakery. It had three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a small living area where her mum kept a t.v. and a phone line. For as long as they had lived there, the girls had all shared rooms.

Violet and Hazel, being the youngest, shared. And Giselle and Savanna shared. Up until a year ago, this didn't really cause a problem for anyone. Violet had her tantrums at times, but she was always sweet to Hazel, because even though they were only a year about, Hazel acted like she was little and helpless and Violet liked that. And up until a year ago, Giselle had a sweet temperament and never had much cause to argue with Savanna about anything. All four of them had gotten on fairly well.

When Savanna reached the last bedroom on the right, the largest bedroom, she walked right in without knocking. Both Violet and Hazel were sitting on their beds looking down at their hands. Hazel had a tear running down her cheek and Violet's lip was stuck out. They both know what they had done.

"Does anyone want to volunteer to explain to me what it was you two were doing out there?" She said, standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. "Because I'm fairly sure that I told each of you that you were not allowed, under _any_ circumstances, to use your magic."

"It was just an accident." Violet mumbled. "I didn't mean to."

"Violet Louise, do not lie to me." The younger girl hung her head. "You are both scaring our mum. Is that what you want to do? Do you like scaring her?" Both of them said that they didn't. "Then why are you doing it? Why are you throwing fake tantrums and screaming?"

"She started it." Violet tried again, pointing a finger at Hazel. "She keeps taking my things."

"And there is no other way to handle the situation? You have to resort to using magic to make mum shout at her?"

"I don't like it when mummy yells at me." Hazel said, looking up at Savanna. "And Vi makes her do it all the time."

"Both of you are going to stop this _right now._ Do I make myself clear?" She looked at Hazel, "You, no more taking Vi's things and using mum's makeup. No more pretending to cry and no more magic. And you," She turned to Violet. "No more screaming like that, or over-reacting to something Hazel does. And. No. More. Magic. Do you understand?" Both of them nodded and Savanna sighed. "I just got back from school you two, I didn't want to have to yell at you already."

"We're sorry." Hazel said, getting up from her bed and walking up to Savanna. "I'll be good." She wrapped her arms around Savanna's middle and buried her head in her stomach. "I swear it."

"I swear it, too." Violet said, also getting up from her bed and hugging Savanna. "I'll be good too."

"Good. Now go apologize to mum and help her set the table."

"M'kay." Violet said. Both girls scampered from the room and Savanna sat down on Violet's bed. She saw a few doll heads sticking out from under Hazels' bed and there was a few teddy bears gone from her bed. She was willing to bet she would find parts of them under Violet's bed if she were to look. Being home was turning out to be even more stressful than she had thought it would be.

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**Reviews are lovely.**


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